They Say That A Hero Can Save Us
by twenty3
Summary: Sequel to Hero. Nick, Warrick and Catherine are taken hostage. Bad summary, story's much better. NickWarrick friendship and WCR. Rated M for language and violence.
1. Bad Start

**This is the sequel to "Hero." It take place 4 months after. The words in bold are song lyrics from the song 'Hero' by Chad Kroeger. They indicate breaks in the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to CSI or the song.**

Warrick practically ran into the crime lab, the cool air rushing at him felt a lot better than the Vegas desert heat he had just escaped from. He paused for a second to catch his breath and looked around him, scanning the people in the labs and hallways. Unsatisfied, he made his way to the locker room and found Catherine and Sara sitting on one of the benches, looking at an old yearbook. He poked his head through the door and and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Hey, where's Nick?" He asked when Catherine turned to face him.

"Nice to see you too." She answered sarcastically.

Sara shrugged. "Haven't seen him. You should know, you live with him."

Warrick sighed. "You would think that would make it easier." He turned to leave, but Catherine stopped him.

"Wait." Warrick turned back around, still in the hallway except for his head. "Why do you need to see Nick so bad?"

"I gotta ask him if I-" he stopped short, catching himself just in time. He shook his head and shrugged slightly. "Guy stuff." He slipped out and headed for the break room, almost knocking Grissom over in the process.

"Jesus Warrick...be careful."

Warrick turned so he was walking backwards and asked, "Have you seen Nick?"

"Yeah, he's in the beak room with Greg."

Warrick turned so he was walking the right way and made it to the break room in record time. Nick and Greg were sitting at the table, drinking coffee and talking about something that was apparently hilarious.

"There you are." he said, causing Nick and Greg to both jump a little. "Is your cell phone broken?"

Nick was still smiling from his conversation with Greg, but it was starting to fade a little at Warrick's behavoir. "No..." He unclipped it from his belt and looked at it. "5 missed calls...oops. It's on silent." Warrick rolled his eyes. "Sorry man. What's up?"

Warrick joined his friends at the table. "I really need to talk to you about something." He said.

As if on cue, Greg's beeper went off, and he looked at it and smiled. "Sweet. Hodges' has my results on my first stripper case." He said, a little too happy. "I'll see you guys later." He gulped down the last of his coffee and threw the paper cup in the trash before he left.

Nick turned back to Warrick. "What's so important?" He asked.

Warrick's sudden rambling was barely understandable. "Alright, this is gonna sound stupid, and sudden...but it just kinda came to me last night and I don't know what to do so I figured I'd ask you because...well I really don't know why but it seemed like a good idea and-"

"Woah woah woah." Nick said, putting his hands up and slowly shaking his head. "Calm down bro. I barely understood what you just said. What's going on?"

Warrick took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. He looked back up at Nick, who was smiling slightly. "Okay. Last night, I was thinking about me and Catherine, and how good things are and everything. And we've been together for five months-"

"And eight years." Nick said, his smile growing.

Warrick rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Shut up. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe I should ask her to marry me, ya know? Cuz like...why not? It's a good idea right?"

Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is. So why don't you just ask her?"

Warrick sighed. "Cuz it's not a good idea man. It's too soon, isn't it? I just got divorced a little over 6 months ago, and I don't want that to happen with Catherine."

"Then it won't. You've known Catherine a hell of a lot longer than you knew Tina. You've been in love with Catherine longer than you've known Tina man. You guys love each other, and you know this is what she wants. She's a girl, that's all they want."

Warrick laughed. "Yeah, good point...but what if she says no?"

Nick shrugged. "Why would she?"

"I don't know. But what if?"

Nick shook his head. "If you always worried about the what-ifs, you'd never do anything. You gotta take a chance. What's worse, wondering what if she says no, or wondering what if she had said yes?"

Warrick sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I hate it when you're right."

"You must hate it a lot then." Nick said, grinning widely.

"What are you grinning at?" Warrick asked.

"Nothing...just my little Warrick's growing up." He said mokingly, and jumped out of his seat when Warrick lunged at him. Nick didn't get too far before Warrick had him in a headlock and was digging his knuckles into Nick's head playfully.

"I can still kick your ass Nicky." Warrick said, holding Nick in place as he tried to fight him off.

"You know I let you win so you don't look bad." Nick said laughing.

"Don't you guys have work to do?" Grissom asked his two CSIs, who were in the middle of a wrestling match, when he walked into the break room.

Warrick released Nick from the headlock and pushed him into the counter after Nick punched him. "Actually, no we don't." Warrick said, dodging another punch thrown by Nick.

Grissom shook his head and smiled. He had never seen anything like Nick and Warrick's friendship, and it never failed to make him smile, no matter how bad a day he was having. "Good. Then I'm sending you two with Catherine out on a 419 at some abandoned warehouse. Get going." He said, waving the guys out of the break room.

"Shotgun." Nick said as he beat Warrick out the door and started running down the hallway.

"Oh hell no!" Warrick said, chasing after him. Grissom laughed and poured himself a cup of coffee. He sat down at the table and got started on his crossword puzzle.

**Someone told me **

**That love would all save us**

Catherine pulled up behind Brass' Tahoe outside of the rundown warehouse. There was two officers there with him. They were leaning up against the side of the building, and looked pretty bored.

"Hey guys." Brass greeted when the CSIs walked up to him. He had dark circles forming under his eyes, and he was paler than usual.

"You okay?" Catherine asked in her motherly tone.

"Yeah, just a bit of a fever I guess." Brass said sighing.

Catherine nodded and turned towards the warehouse. "So what do we have here?"

Brass followed her gaze. "Male DB. No ID. Looks to me like a gun shot to the head. It's a pretty busy night, so David should be a while."

"Who called it in?" Nick asked.

"Anonymous 911." Brass answered, exhaustion creeping into his voice.

"Of course." Warrick said, looking around for any signs of a car or another person. Brass started to sway on his feet a little, and suddenly started falling backwards. Nick quickly stepped behind him and caught him before he hit the ground.

"Brass...Brass, you okay?" Nick asked as he gently lowered the captain to the ground and let his head rest on his legs. Brass' eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at the worried CSIs.

"I'm fine." He answered, and tried to get up, but Nick held him back.

"You should get home and get some rest, you look aweful." Warrick said, kneeling down next to Nick.

"Thanks 'Rick." Brass said sarcastically.

"Hey, you." Catherine said, waving over one of the officers leaning up against the side of the warehouse. "Come here." The officer walked up next to Catherine. "Please take him home, and call Gil Grissom at the crime lab to check on him."

"Yes, ma'am." The officer said nodding. Nick helped Brass into the police car, then stepped back as they pulled away.

"Alright, let's get going." Catherine said, leading the two younger CSIs towards the door.

"Body's on your right about 10 feet past the door." The officer said, not bothering to move.

"Thanks." Warrick said. He followed Nick and Catherine inside. The main part of the warehouse was a little bigger than a basketball court. The concrete floor was covered in dirt and dust, as were the panels of lights, giving the room an eerie feel. It was dim and cold, the moist air giving the CSIs goose bumps. There was a single door on the back wall of the large room. There were several thin, rotting wooden beams running parallel to the longer walls. A few stray peices of insulation hung from the beams and wires were visible above them. Four large wooden chairs were against the far wall near the door, and five or six stacks of boxes were against the wall on their right.

"I'm guessing this place hasn't been used much in our lifetime." Nick said, shining his flashlight on the decaying boxes.

"Thanks for saying 'our', Nicky." Catherine said with a smile. She circled the body laying crumpled on the floor, his legs bent awkwardly underneath him. There was a single gun shot wound above his right eyebrow. She snapped a few photos of the body and wound before turning to Nick. "Wanna see what's in that room back there?"

Nick put his flashlight on the door and shrugged. "Why not?" He carefully made his way to the door. The knob didn't turn easily, and he had to use his shoulder to unstick the door. When he got it open, he slowly stepped inside. There was a single wooden beam like the others running from the doorway to the back wall over an old, large oak desk. Behind the desk on the far wall was a single normal sized window. The glass was covered in dust and dirt, like everything else. The ceiling was the same as in the room behind him, dusty light panels showing the small rooms age.Nick swept his flashlight over the entire room and didn't find anything. "Nothing back here." He called to Catherine, leaving the room. He walked back over the door they had entered through and looked for any signs of forced entry, but didn't find any. He dusted the doorknob, and again came up with nothing. He sighed in disappointment. "No signs of forced entry or any prints."

"Same here." Warrick said, pointing to the lightswitch next to the door.

"Cheer up you guys. There's plenty of footprints, and something always turns up."

The guys sighed, but nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot from outside. Catherine and Warrick dove to the ground, but Nick didn't have time. Someone had pressed something cold and hard against the back of his head, and taken his gun from its holster.

"Don't do anything stupid, pal." The voice was deep and menacing. Nick slowly raised his hands and tried to keep his breathing under control. He had dropped his flashlight when he heard the gunshot, and it was now on the ground and pointing at Warrick, so Nick could clearly see the look of terror on his best friend's face. Two more men came in from outside, both holding guns.

"Hello." The skinnier of the two said, an evil smile on his lips. "Please toss over your weapons, or your friend over there dies." He said, motioning to Nick.

Nick shook his head. "Guys, don't-"

The man holding the gun to his head pressed it harder against him. "Shut the hell up."

Warrick and Catherine reluctantly tossed their guns over to the man who seemed to be in charge. He was a little shorter than Nick with short, curly blonde hair and bony facial features. Typical hollywood bad guy. His two companions were much taller and heftier than him, both with jet black hair slicked back against their heads and round cheeks. Typical hollywood bad guy sidekicks.

"Cell phones too, if you don't mind." Warrick and Catherine obeyed. "Grab his too, Ray."

"Sure thing, boss." Ray unclipped Nick's cell phone and tossed it to the guy in charge. The other guard had moved behind Warrick and Catherine, who were still on the ground.

"What are we gonna do with them, Sammy?" The guard asked.

"Let's have a little fun. Tie them up in those chairs over there in the back room. There's rop in the truck."

Ray dug the gun deeper into Nick's skull. "Don't try anything." He grabbed Nick's shoulder and spun him around, then pushed him in the direction of the door at the back of the warehouse, gun aimed at the back of his head. Nick heard Warrick and Catherine get up off of the floor and follow him. Once they were inside, Ray motioned for them to stand up against the left wall. "Jake, go get the rope from Sam." Ray said, never taking his eyes off of his three hostages. Jake returned a few moments later with Sam, carrying three chairs and a long length of rope around his shoulder. Warrick and Catherine were forced into the smaller of the three chairs, while Nick was pushed into a smaller, flimsier one. They were all tied tightly to their chairs with their hands behind their back, Warrick and Catherne up against the wall, and Nick sat facing them.

"Sit tight." Sam said. Then they were gone, and the three CSIs were left alone.

A few minutes of silence past, although it felt like hours. No one was sure of what to say. They were all in their own state of shock. Then Nick finally spoke.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked softly.

They both nodded. "Yeah...we're good. You?" Warrick asked.

"I'm fine. Can you move at all?"

Warrick and Catherine briefly struggled against their ropes, but to no avail. They then tried to move their chairs, but they were too heavy. Catherine sighed. "No...we can't."

Nick took a deep breath. "I can't move against the ropes, but my chair's lighter than yours and a lot looser..." Warrick and Catherine could see the gears trurning in Nick's head. "I have an idea...Warrick, put your feet against the bottom of the chair." Warrick positioned his feet in between Nick's legs and under the seat of the chair. "Alright...now on the count of three, kick me backwards, and I'll push off, and hopefully the chair will break when it hits the ground."

Catherine looked skeptical. "Nick, what if it doesn't work, or you get hurt?"

Nick shook his head. "It's okay if I get hurt if we can escape." He said. Giving her no time to argue, he looked at Warrick and nodded. "One...two...three." Warrick put all his strength into his legs, lifting them up and kicking forwards. At the same time, Nick pushed off the ground as hard as he could. Their combined effort lifted the chair off the floor and sent it backwards, crashing against the floor hard. Nick's left wrist hit the hard concrete, followed by his body weight and the chair. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't cry out when he felt his wrist snap. The sound of his wrist breaking mixed in with the splintering of the chair. He rolled into his right side and began wiggling out of the ropes. In a matter of minutes he had the ropes off and was slowly getting to his feet.

"Are you alright?" Catherine asked, the worry obvious in her voice.

Nick grasped his left wrist with his right hand. "Yeah...just broke my wrist I think..." He didn't even have time to think of what to do next. The door flew open, and Ray came bounding in and froze when he saw Nick standing in the middle of the room. He ran at Nick, grabbing him by the neck and brining him across the room, slamming him up against the wall next to the door he had just come through. Nick's feet were at least three inches off the ground, and he was gasping for breath through Ray's tight grip on his throat. Ray covered Nick's mouth with his hand. Nick bit down as hard as he could until he tasted blood. Ray yelled in pain and pulled his hand back, holding it up to look at the deep cut from Nick's teeth. He drew his gun from his belt and shoved it into Nick's mouth. Catherine closed her eyes and turned her head away, and Warrick just stared helplessly.

"I've had enough of you." His finger tightened on the trigger, but stopped upon hearing the voice from the doorway.

"Don't waste it, Ray. Just tie him up." Sam said, annoyed.

"But...boss, he-"

"I ink he peificly ed tie e up." Nick said, his words incoherent around the gun barrel between his teeth.

Ray removed the gun. "What?"

Nick turned his head and tried to spit the taste of metal out of his mouth. "I think he specifically said tie me up." Warrick chuckled and received a glare from Ray before he turned back to Nick.

"So you're a funny guy too..."

"Ray!" Sam said, his voice demanding. "Just tie him _up_."

Ray nodded in understanding. "Okay, boss." He raised his gun above his head and said, "Sweet dreams." to Nick before bringing it crashing down on the side of Nick's head, knocking him out cold.

**But how could that be?  
When look what love gave us**


	2. Nightmare

**A world full of killing **

**And blood spilling **

**That world never came**

Nick slowly began to regain consciousness. The pain in his wrist was ten times worse than before, and he could feel a warm trickle of blood running down the left side of his face from his eyebrow where the gun had hit him. He also felt a warm stream running down his forearms. He opened his eyes and waited for his vision to clear. He became instantly confused when he was at eye level with the window. He looked to his left and saw Catherine and Warrick where they had been before, looking up at him silently. He looked down at the floor to see that his feet where a foot above the ground. He looked up at the ceiling, and finally understood. A set of handcuffs were around the thin wooden beam about an inch underneath the panel of lights. He was dangling by his wrists, which were cut and bleeding from the metal clasped tightly against his skin. His left wrist was swollen and a mix of deep blacks and blues and was throbbing painfully. He was now fully awake and aware of the situation. The dark blue t-shirt he had been wearing before was now gone. His jeans were hanging low on his hips, just below the waistbad of his boxers. The faint scars from the fire and wood from Warrick's house were now visible on his back and shoulders and made Warrick's stomach churn just thinking about it. The weight Nick had lost between being buried alive and the fire made all his jeans a little loose, not that he was fat before. The six pack he had before was now less obvious, and his shoulders weren't as broad. Nick closed his eyes and let his chin rest against his chest.

"Nicky...you okay man?" Warrick asked, not trying to hide the fear in his voice.

"Yeah." Nick choked out, his throat still sore. "How are you guys holding up?"

Catherine sighed. Nick never thought about himself more than he absolutly had to. "We're fine."

Nick opened his eyes and turned his head so he was looking at his friends. "How long was I out for?"

Warrick shook his head. "Hard to tell...a few hours."

Nick nodded. "Have they contacted anyone or anything?"

Catherine shook her head slowly. "No...they haven't been in here since they put you up there...how's your wrist?"

Nick looked up and his mangled wrist. "Hurts like a bitch." He sighed. "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know buddy." Warrick said softly. They fell silent and stayed that way for several long moments. Then the door opened and Ray walked in, a horrible smile acorss his face. Nick looked over his shoulder and watched as the large man walked around him so he was standing in front of him, Nick's chest at Ray's eye level.

"Glad to see you're awake, I'd hate for you to miss this." He said as he walked over to Catherine and grabbed her by the hair and raised his hand.

"Wait!" Nick yelled, stopping Ray in mid swing.

Ray turned back to Nick. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Leave her alone. Leave both of them alone." Nick said, causing Ray to smile.

He walked back over to Nick to where he had stood before. "Would you rather me beat the shit out of you instead?"

"I'd actually rather you let us go.." Ray punched Nick in the ribs, knocking the wind from Nick's lungs.

"Try again." He said.

Nick took a second to catch his breath before responding. "Yeah...fine...do whatever you want to me...just leave them alone..."

Ray reached up and jerked Nick's head down by his hair. "I'm gonna wreck you up."

"What does that even mean?" Nick asked.

Ray punched him in the face, and Nick noticed a scrap of his former t-shirt was tied around his hand where Nick had bitten him. "It means whatever I want it to mean."

"Did you go to college?" Nick asked mokingly. Warrick swore to himself as Ray punch Nick in the mouth. "Guess not..."

"Anything else you'd like to say to me?" Nick shook his head before spitting blood in Ray's face. "That's it...you're fucking dead."

Jake walked into the room and stood behind Nick, holding his legs. Ray repeatedly punched Nick in the ribs, the sickening cracks that followed caused tears to fall from Catherine's eyes as she watched Nick's beating continue. Jake picked up a peace of the broken chair and handed it to Ray, who used it to break a few more of Nick's ribs and smacked him in the face with it a couple times. The broken wood left splinters in Nick's chest and the side of his face. His ribs were deeply bruised and bleeding. He had a black eye and cuts all over his face and chest. He struggled to catch his breath while Ray pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He took a few drags of it before pressing it just above Nick's naval and twisting it until it went out. Nick yelled out in pain. He jerked his knee up and into Ray's stomach, causing him to double over. He then grabbed the former leg of the chair and staggered behind Nick, breaking it over his back with a loud crack.

"Don't fuck with me." He said, throwing the broken leg onto the ground before he and Jake left the room, closing and locking the door behind them.

Nick gasped for breath and fought as hard as he could not to pass out. The pain in his wrist didn't seem as bad now that the rest of his body was battered as well. He grimaced in pain with each breath he took. His entire body was shaking from the cold and the pain. He fought off the urge to let his eyes close and focused all his attention on the seemingly distant voice calling his name.

"Nicky...talk to me man. Nick!" Warrick struggled against the ropes, even though he knew it was useless. He wanted nothing more than to run to his brother's side and make everything okay. He couldn't just sit there and watch.

Nick winced as he turned his head to face Catherine and Warrick. His vision was cloudy and blurred by the blood and sweat running down his face, but he need something to focus on so he wouldn't black out.

Catherine tried to hold back the tears. "Nicky...please say something." She begged.

"I...I'm okay." Nick choked out, his voice weak and laced with pain.

"What the hell were you egging the guy on for?" Warrick demanded.

"It takes a lot out of you...beating someone up..." It was taking far too much energy for Nick to continue talking.

"And how much did that just take out of you?"

Nick took a deep, painful breath. "He's gonna get tired..."

"It's not gonna matter how tired he is if you're dead!"

"Stop fighting." Catherine said, choking back a sob.

"We're not fighting." Both men said at the same time.

Warrick's heart sunk as Nick went into a violent coughing fit, coughing up blood onto his bare chest. It took several minutes for Nick's breathing to get somewhere close to normal, the pain in his ribs intensified after coughing so much. The sight was heart wrenching. Nick's pale skin was covered in brusies and cuts in one big mess. His dark hair was matted to his head, and he was shivering despite the fact that he was sweating. His breathing was rigid and strained, and there was no doubt in any of their minds there was more serious internal injuries they couldn't see. Nick's eyes slowly began to close against his will, and he could feel the pain throughout his body beginning to numb. _This must be what it's like to die..._ He thought so himself.

"Nicky...wake up! Don't give in Nick...you have to stay awake man!" Warrick's pleading made Nick open his eyes. A wave of pain coursed through his body and he clenched his jaw tightly. Nick tried to swallow the pain that was threatening to take over. He couldn't decide which was worse; the state of pain he was currently in, or hearing Catherine's queit sobs to his left.

"I'm okay Catherine...please stop crying..." He said softly, turning his head to look at Catherine.

She shook her bangs away from her eyes. "No, you're not. You did that for me...for us...it's not fair." She said, the tears falling steadily down her cheeks.

Nick somehow managed a smile through the pain and horror of their current situation. "It's gonna be okay, I promise." He said, his voice more reassuring than his words. He was completely and utterly exhausted, but couldn't let himself give up. He knew he was their only hope, and he somehow had to get them out of this.

Reading his mind, Warrick shook Nick from his thoughts. "Don't even think of doing anything stupid Nicky."

"You won't think it's stupid if it works."

"That's a big if."

"Sometimes you gotta take a chance." Nick said, echoing his words from before. Just a few hours ago, the two friends had been sitting in the break room. What a turn of events.

"What are you thinking of doing?" Warrick asked the question he knew he'd regret.

Nick shook his head. "I'm not telling you."

"Then you probably shouldn't do it. What's the chance of your plan saving us?"

Nick turned his head away so he was looking at the dusty window. "There's no 'us' in this, bro." He said so queitly Warrick and Catherine could barely hear him.

Warrick and Catherine exchanged confused glances. "What do you mean?" Warrick asked anxiously.

Nick closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm probably not gonna make it out of this alive."

Warrick and Catherine sat there for a few seconds, letting Nick's words sink in. Neither were sure of what to say. Catherine was the first to speak. "Then you're not doing it."

"Why not?" Nick asked, still staring at the window, avoiding Catherine and Warrick's eyes. "You guys have so much more to live for than I do. It doesn't matter what happens to me as long as you guys are safe...that's all that matters. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you two...you gotta trust me."

Warrick wished he hadn't heard what Nick had just said. "That's the problem. I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone before. Please don't do anything stupid Nick...please..."

Nick turned back to Warrick and Catherine, tears building up in his eyes. "Can you move at all?" Warrick stared blankly at his best friend. "No, you can't. I can, and if I can save at least you two, I'm gonna. There's nothing you can say that's gonna stop me."

Warrick opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. His heart felt like it had turned to stone. Sometimes he hated Nick's do-whatever-it-takes attitude, especially when it put his brother in danger. Unshed tears stung his eyes and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

Catherine took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. All she wanted to do was crawl into her nice big, warm bed with Warrick and sleep for weeks. She didn't want to see Nick suffer anymore. She wanted to hug her daughter as tightly as she could. She wanted everything to be okay.

Warrick swore under his breath when the door opened, but was a little relieved when Sam walked in and not Ray. He stood in between where Nick hung from the ceiling and Warrick and Catherine sat in their chair against the wall.

"Hello, how is everyone doing?"

"Marvelous." Nick said sarcastically, and Sam turned so he was facing Nick and looked up him.

"You sure have a quick tongue for such a young guy."

"Thanks, I try."

Sam smiled. "Be careful, it may get you in trouble."

"Looking forward to it."

Sam turned to walk away, but stopped short and swung his fist around until it collided with Nick's already broken ribs. Nick grunted in pain and squeezed his eyes shut. He coughed up some more blood before opening his eyes and looking down at Sam.

"We've called your friends...captain Brass and Gil Grissom is it? They should be here shortly. But I wouldn't get too excited, they're only coming for the show." He reached up and tapped Nick on the cheek twice before slapping him hard and leaving.

Nick hung his head and tried to catch his breath. He no longer tried to control the shaking of his body or the pain overwhelming him. "Get ready...I'm gonna get you guys out of here soon." He said softly.

**They say that a hero can save us **

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**

Brass no longer cared about the pounding of his head or the fact that he was dizzy. All he cared about was getting to where some guy had said he was holding three CSIs hostages. The same CSIs he had left because he hadn't felt good. The guy had warned him about bringing any backup, and Brass wasn't about to jeopardize the CSIs life, but he also wasn't stupid. He had a specially trained team waiting nearby.

Grissom had forgotten about his abandonned crossword puzzle. His attention was focused on the situation at hand. His three most experienced CSIs were being held hostage at a crime scene, his worst nightmare coming true. He felt it in his gut that they were okay, but he didn't know how long that feeling would be there. He sat silently in the passenger seat of the police car, watching the trees fly past as Brass raced to the warehouse Nick, Warrick and Catherine were in. It was unconviently located on a dirt road in the woods, and the ride seemed to be taking forever. The siren was on as the man on the phone had instructed. Not that it mattered, they were in the middle of nowhere.

**I'll hold on to the wings of the angels **

**And watch as we all fly away**


	3. Daring Escape

**Now that the world isn't ending **

**It's love that I'm sending to you**

Warrick, Nick and Catherine all turned their heads towards the door when they heard the siren. They knew Brass had finally shown up. Warrick's heart started racing, and he turned towards Catherine and gave her a reassuring smile.

Catherine couldn't suppress the smile or the wave of relief that washed over her when she heard the siren. She looked over at Warrick, and felt even more hope when she saw him smiling. She was glad she wasn't in this alone, but also sad that Warrick was with her and Nick was suffering so much...but she knew she wouldn't have been able to stay sane without them.

Nick took a couple deep breaths before he started pulling his legs up to his chest. The added strain on his wrist made him cry out in pain, put he kept pulling.

"What the hell are you doing?" Warrick asked when he saw Nick.

Nick didn't answer. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw as hard as he could as he slowly managed to bring his knees up to his chest. His arms were shaking and the metal hundcuffs were digging deeper into his wrists, but he tried to ignore it. Once he had his legs up as far as he could, he slowly leaned back and pulled himself up slightly, extending his legs up at the same time. His breathing increased and he felt a stab of pain in his ribs with each rigid breath he drew, but he kept going. He finally wrapped his legs around the wooden beam he was handcuffed around and relaxed for a second to catch his breath.

"Nick..." Warrick had no idea what Nick was planning to do, and he didn't think he wanted to know. "Come on man, Brass is here. Don't hurt yourself anymore."

Nick didn't pay any attention to his friend. Instead, he once again brought his knees to his chest, but this time he pressed his feet against the panels of lights above him. He drew several sharp, deep breaths. He pushed against the lights, breaking the plastic and glass and sending shards of it falling down on him, cutting his arms, face and neck. At the same time, he pulled his hands as hard as he could towards his chest. The rotting beam slowly began to cave under the weight. With one last strong push and pull, Nick snapped the beam in half. It broke against his bare chest, leaving a deep gash as Nick started falling to the floor below.

**It isn't the love of a hero **

**That's why I fear it won't do**

Grissom was out of the car before Brass had pulled to a complete stop. He stopped when he saw three men walk out of the warehouse, pointing guns at them. Grissom raised his hands above his head, followed by Brass.

"We just want our guys back." Grissom said. It sounded awefully familiar to what he had said to Walter Gordon about Nick a year ago.

"Come on fellas. It's over, just let them go." Brass said, walking up next to Grissom.

Sam shook his head. "You're right, it's over. But for them, not us."

"Are you really planning to kill three CSIs in front of a two cops?"

"Yepp." Sam said, making Ray and Jake laugh.

Grissom felt one of his migranes coming on. He was beyond pissed off. He hated nothing more than when someone tried to hurt his team...his friends...his family.

"Maybe we could work something out." Grissom offered. "There has to be something you want more than them."

"Actually..." Sam said, thinking the idea over. "There might be. But I'm pretty sure Ray would rather kill that Nick guy than anything else. He's a real pain in the ass."

Brass felt the anger weeling up inside him. Nick and Warrick were like sons to him, he was gonna do everything in his power to make sure they came out of this okay.

"Ray," Sam said, not turning away from Grissom and Brass. "Go get Nick right now, actually. Bring him on out here. He can go first."

**And they say that a hero can save us **

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**

The wind was instantly knocked from Nick's lungs when he landed painfully on the hard cement floor. He rolled to his right as he coughed up even more blood onto the floor. He forced himself to take deep breaths through the pain until he felt the air entering his lungs again. He slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to a speechless Warrick. He struggled with the ropes that were binding his best friend's hands behind the chair. Nick's hands were shaking and numb, making it harder to get the complicated knots undone. In what seemed like hours, but were really only just a few seconds, Nick had freed Warrick's hands and fell slumped against the cold wall. He let his eyes close as he listened to Warrick quickly untie Catheirne and his own heart beating loudly in his chest.

Warrick knelt in front of his brother and put his hands on the side of his face. "Nicky...look at me man."

Nick slowly opened his eyes. He looked like hell. His face was covered in tiny cuts and dark bruises. There were shards of glass stuck in his neck, along with a deep blue bruise in the shape of a man's hand. His entire chest and ribs were black and dark blue and cut up, the blood and bruises making an ugly mix. There was a large cut from the wood across his back, along with a newly forming bruise. The cuts on his wrists were deeper and blood was flowing steadily down his arms. The few patches of skin that weren't covered in dust, blood or bruises was pale and pasty looking. He was shaking and sweating at the same time. Warrick felt his stomach knot as he looked into the pained eyes of his best friend. _Why do these things always have to happen to you?_

Warrick quickly took off his dark blue button up shirt and wrapped it around Nick's shoulders before forcing his arms through the sleeves.

"Thanks." Nick said weakly as Warrick helped him to his feet. He crossed the room in three quick strides to the window, not even hesitating as he slipped his right hand into the cuff of the long sleeved shirt and punched out the window, covering his face with his other arm. He quickly knocked all the loose pieces away, and with the help of Warrick, moved the desk up against the wall directly under the window. Without speaking, Warrick climbed through the window and landed safely on the other side. Nick helped Catherine onto the desk and out the window, easing her down as Warrick caught her on the other side. As soon as Catherine was down, the door flew open and Ray rushed inside, grabbing Nick by the shoulders and trying to pull him back inside.

Warrick reached up and grabbed Nick's hand, pulling as hard as he could. He looked into his best friend's eyes and saw pure terror.

"I'm not gonna let go, Nicky." Warrick said, straining to keep his hold on Nick.

Nick shook his head. "Go. Run! Get out of here, I'll be okay. Just keep running, no matter what." Nick pulled his hand away and disappeared back through the window.

Catherine grabbed Warrick's hand and pulled him off in the other direction. They zigzagged their way through the woods, dodging trees and jumping over rocks, tripping on the ocassional stick here or root there. They could see the corner of the warehouse's longest side coming into view, and they started running faster, but Warrick stopped dead when he heard Nick yell in pain.

**They say that a hero can save us **

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**

Nick allowed himself to be pulled back into the small room. Ray pulled him off the desk and spun him around, holding him up against the wall. He flicked up the blade to his switch knife and held it so tightly against Nick's neck that a trickle of blood began to run down to his chest.

"Nothing to stop me now..." He said, an evil smile playing across his lips.

Nick lifted his knee up and out as hard as he could until it connected with Ray's groin, sending him stumbling backwards in pain. Nick pushed himself off the wall and tried to run by him, but yelled out and fell to the floor when he felt a searing pain in his right side. He looked down and saw the knife sticking out of his ribs. It was about an inch in, so he reached down and pulled it out in one swift motion. He pressed down on his wound with his injured arm, his warm blood seeping through his fingers. He started to get to his feet, but only made it to his knees when Ray ran at him again. Nick closed his eyes and thrusted upwards with the knife, cringing when he felt it penetrate the other man's flesh. A sickeneing gargling noise was the last thing that escaped from Ray's throat before he fell backwards and lay still.

**I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles **

**Watch as we all fly away**

Warrick couldn't fight it when Catherine began pulling him away again. He didn't seem to have any control over his legs anymore. They finally made it the last few yards and rounded the corner, running faster when they saw the red and blue flashing lights.

Catherine tightly squeezed Warrick's hands as they ran up to Brass, Grissom wrapping his arms around Catherine, then Warrick.

"Where's Nick?" He asked when he noticed the Texan wasn't with them.

"He's still...in there..." Warrick said, out of breath.

The brief period where Sam's existence had been forgotten came to an end. "What the...how did you...Jake! Go get Nick and Ray...now!"

Jake turned and walked over to the door. He quickly opened it and stepped back in shock when Nick stumbled out.

"Nick!" Warrick took a step towards him, but was help back by Brass' tight grip on his arm.

Grissom sighed in relief when he saw Nick stumble out of the warehouse, but was soon back in hs previous state of fear when he saw Nick's condition. Blood was running from underneath his hand from a deep gash.

Catherine and Warrick's heart sunk when they saw the newest injury Nick had sustained.

Nick smiled weakly at his friends. "Hey guys." He choked out.

"Shut up!" Sam said, grabbing Nick by the hair and dragging him in front of him. "You have caused me way too much trouble today, and I'm sick of you."

He pressed the barrel of his gun to Nick's right temple, his other hand still firmly pulling his hair.

Both Brass and Grissom had to hold Warrick back so he wouldn't run and tackle Sam. Catherine wrapped her arms around him and tried to calm him down, but nothing was working. All he wanted to do was run and save Nick and beat the hell out of Sam for hurting his brother.

"Don't hurt him." Warrick begged, his voice soft and weak.

Sam just laughed. "I was actually thinking of killing him."

Nick shook his head painfully. "Don't worry, he won't do it."

Sam frowned and looked at Nick. "Excuse me?"

"Don't do anything stupid Nicky." Brass, Grissom, Warrick and Catherine all pleaded at the same time.

"You can order your guys to kill someone, to tie us up, to beat me...hell, you can even throw a punch here and there, I'll give you that. But when it comes down to one-on-one, like this, you don't have the balls to pull that trigger."

Sam was beginning to loose his cool. "I killed that cop and the guy in there!" He said angrily.

"Congradulations." Nick said, his voice steady, a contradiction to his shaking body and racing heart. He could feel the life draining from his body. His legs were getting weaker and starting to give out, and his vision was hazy. His senses were dulling, and even though he was standing right next to him, Sam's voice seemed distant.

"You really don't think I'd spare you of your wasted life? No, you're afraid. You're just trying to be a tough guy."

Nick shook his head, making Sam press the gun harder against his temple. "I'm not afraid of anything anymore. You don't scare me. Dying doesn't scare me. So do it. Go ahead, pull it. I dare you."

Sam raised the gun over his head and brought it down on the top of Nick's skull. "Shut up! Stop fucking talking!"

Warrick couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was standing there, watching his best friend ask a psycopath to kill him. _What is he thinking? Does he not see me standing right here in front of him hearing this?_

Catherine clung tigher to Warrick and tried to block out Nick's words. _He doesn't mean it...he's just trying to scare the guy..._

Brass closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening them again._ I hope you know what you're doing kid...none of us would be able to handle it if you messed this up and got yourself killed..._

Grissom stared blankly at his CSI level three with a gun pressed against his head. _Please just let us all get out of this okay..._ He prayed silently.

"I thought I was just being a tough guy? Come on man. You wanna kill me? Just do it! Just fucking kill me."

Suddenly, a loud gunshot rang out. Catheirne dug her nails into Warrick's side. Grissom and Brass' grip slipped off of Warrick, who's knees felt like they had turned to jell-o. All four of them held their breaths.

**And they're watching us **

**They're watching us As we all fly away**

**Sorry for the cliffhanger. Next chapter will hopefully be up before the weekend. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, they help keep me motivated.**


	4. Holding On

Warrick swore his heart stopped beating. Everyting that happened next seem to go in slow motion. He completely forgot about the others standing around him. He didn't feel Catherine's nails digging into him or notice Brass draw his gun. All he can remember is locking eyes with Nick for what seemed like a lifetime and never wanting to look away for fear that when he looked back, his eyes would be closed. 

Brass incinctively drew his gun when he heard the gunshot. He looked from Ray to Jake, then back to Ray.

Grissom's jaw dropped and he could hear his own heart pounding. His lungs started burning from the lack of oxygen.

Catherine buried her face against Warrick's shoulder, not daring to look. She let out a quiet sob and let the sound of her blood rushing in her ears drown out everything else.

What happened before the next event varies upon who you ask and how much they think they remember. Sam and Nick stood still for a second, neither one appearing to breathe. Then without warning, Sam slowly started to fall to his right, landing with a thud on the ground. Nick didn't move. Another gunshot followed, and Jake crumpled to the ground a few feet behind Nick. Nick turned around and saw Jake lying on the ground, then turned back and looked down at Sam. His heart started beating slower, and his legs gave out. He fell to his knees and let his eyes close as he slowly fell forward, his hand still clutching his bleeding wound.

Brass' eyes darted around the perimeter of the warehouse. Then he saw them. From the trees, he saw the special team he had put in place and completely forgot about emerge from the woods, surrounding them. Brass lowered his gun and help up his hand.

"It's okay guys. There's no more, everyone's out. Good work."

Grissom let out the breath he had been holding and rubbed his forehead as he quickly dialed 911, giving the operator their location and begging them to hurry.

Catherine lifted her head and saw Jake and Sam lying on the ground, as well as Nick. _But there was only two gunshots..._ She let her grip loosen on Warrick as he ran over to Nick.

Warrick knelt down on the gravel next to his brother. He checked his pulse before carefully rolling him over onto his back so Nick's head was resting in his lap. He replaced Nick's hand over his wound with his own, Nick's warm blood covering his fingers and pressed down firmly. He brushed the dirt and sweat away from NIck's face with his free hand before grabbing Nick's uninjured one, squeezing gently.

"You're safe now Nicky. No one's gonna hurt you anymore...everything's gonna be okay...wake up bro..."

Nick had never been so exhausted in his entire life. He wanted nothing more than to just sleep, but something made him open his eyes. He opened them and saw Warrick's piercing green eyes staring into his own dark brown ones. Warrick smiled as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. Every part of Nick's body hurt, and he felt like he was slipping away.

"I..." Nick tried to talk, but Warrick cut him off.

"Shhhh. Don't say anything, save your strength buddy. Just stay with me man." Nick nodded feebly and layed there for a few more minutes until the ambulance arrived. He was quickly loaded onto the stretcher and lifted into the ambulance, followed closely by Warrick.

"We'll meet you at the hospital." Grissom called to Warrick before the door slammed shut and the sirens blared to life.

**I am so high **

**I can hear heaven**

Grissom, Brass and Catherine watched as the ambulance pulled away, and stared after it until they couldn't hear the sirens anymore.

"Come on." Grissom said softly, gently pulling Catherine towards the car. "We need to call Greg and Sara and have them meet us at the hospital."

Brass turned to the man in charge of the speical forces unit. "Call Conrad Ecklie and tell him to get a CSI team out here to precess the scene."

"Yes sir." The man said, pulling out his cell phone. His conversation faded as Brass followed Grissom and Catherine to the car. Grissom drove as Catherine filled Greg in on what had happened. She hung up after a brief conversation and let her eyes close and her head fall back against the headrest.

**But heaven **

**No heaven don't hear me**

Greg ran down the hall and into the break room, making Sara jump of out of skin.

"Greg...what the-"

"Nick's at the hospital with Warrick, we have to meet Grissom and Catherine there now. Let's go!"

Sara left her salad on the table and ran after Greg into the parking lot, both young CSIs praying their friend's were okay. Greg sped through traffic towards Desert Palms, definitly not going the legal speed limit.

"Greg...be careful..." Sara said, gripping the door handle.

Greg was gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white. He slowed down a little. "Sorry...I just get so nervous..."

Sara reached over and put her hand on his knee soothingly. "They're gonna be okay."

**And they say that a hero can save us **

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**

Warrick stared down at Nick as the paramedics frantically tried to keep him alive. He was still firmly holding Nick's right hand, even though he was on his left. _Always on your left, Nicky..._

Nick paid no attention to anyone else but Warrick. He focused all his attention and energy on his best friend, fighting with all his strength to keep his eyes from closing. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he started getting weaker faster.

Warrick felt Nick's grip on his hand getting weaker. "Stay with me Nick...don't give up."

"I'm...so tired...I wanna...sleep..." Nick's eyes began to close, but Warrick held on to Nick tighter.

"Don't you dare give up on me Nicky. You can't give up now man, come on. Please...you can do this..."

They finally made it to the hospital, and Nick was rushed to the emergency room, their hands being torn apart. Warrick watched Nick's eyes close as the doors swung shut. He stared at the closed doors, unable to move until a young doctor came up to him and gently tapped him on his shoulder.

"Sir...are you alright?"

Warrick turned to face the younger guy, who kinda resembled Nick. Warrick looked down at his blood soaked shirt and hands. _Nick's blood..._

"Sir?"

Warrick shook his head. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine...this isn't my blood...I'm okay..."

The doctor nodded slowly. "I'm Dr. Ralik. Why don't you come with me, and I'll give you some scrubs you can change into after you wash up?" Warrick nodded and followed Ralik down the hall and into the staff's locker room, where he was directed to a shower. Warrick let the younger man take his clothes, and he stepped into the hot water, letting it wash over him. He stared down at his bloody hands for a minute, then frantically rubbed them together until the blood was off, even though he could still feel it there. He changed into the hospital scrubs Ralik had left for him before he walked back into the hallway. He wandered around until he found himself in the waiting room, and sank into a chair. He rested his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. He couldn't shake the image of Nick hanging there in front of him or with the gun to his head from his mind. He kept hearing Nick telling Sam to pull the trigger...to kill him... He opened his eyes when he heard people walking up to him, and smiled slightly when he saw Catherine, Brass and Grissom. Catherine ran over to him and he stood up, letting her throw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. They pulled apart after a minute, and he helped her into a chair next to him, taking her hand firmly in his. Grissom and Brass sat across from them, neither saying a word, but both praying Nick would be all right.

Sara and Greg weren't far behind. They both came running around the corner and into the waiting room, dodging a group of nurses as they ran towards their friends.

"Thank God you guys are okay...how's Nick? Is there any news?" They both said at the same time without taking a breath.

Grissom stood up and put a hand on each of their shoulders, gently pushing them into chairs. "We don't know, nobody's told us anything yet. He was pretty beat up and got here about a half hour ago...it could be a while."

Greg and Sara nodded, and fell silent. Catherine rested her head on Warrick's shoulder, who was deep in thought. He hated this feeling more than anything in the world. Not knowing how Nick was doing...what was gonna happen...if he would ever see him again... He knew how much Nick hated hospitals. He hated the smell, the feel, the white walls that were supposed to be calming. He replayed the moment he let go of Nick's hand over and over again, wishing he could have held on. Wishing that for once he could have saved his best friend. _If he doesn't make it out of this...I'm never gonna forgive myself for letting him go..._

He drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Catherine rubbed her thumb gently on the side of his hand as he slept. She kept thinking of how Nick had stopped Ray from hurting her...how he had taken the beating for her and prayed she would be able to thank him for it. Her heart broke when she remembered how broken he looked and how much he had done to save them. She knew how strong he was and knew that if anyone could make it, it was Nick. She just hoped this wasn't more than he could take.

Grissom stared at the floor and massaged his temples. This had been one hell of a night. He couldn't help but think of all the things he'd wished he had said to Nick...all the times he should have told him how proud he was of him. He swore to himself that if...no, when, Nick made it out he'd make sure he told not only him, but his whole team what great CSIs they were and how much he cared about them.

Brass' fever was starting to catch up to him. His adrenaline was gone and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy. He couldn't help but blame himself for what had happened to Nick, Catherine and Warrick. He should have called for more officers. He shouldn't have left them. _Stupid stupid stupid._ He smiled when he thought about how Nick would be yelling at him right now if he knew what he was thinking. _Always thinking about everyone else kid..._

Greg bounced axiously in his seat. He couldn't sit still. He bounced his knees up and down and tapped his fingers against his thighs. Waiting was the worst. _Nick could be dead right now and we wouldn't know. Nice. Real nice Greg, great way to be thinking. No...Nick's gonna be okay. He's always okay. He'll be back to joking around and stealing my coffee soon. He's gonna be okay...he has to be okay._

Sara rested her head in her hands. She was not a very patient person, and this was no exception. _Why is it taking so long? That means he's still alive...there's still someone to be working on...Nick'll be okay. Just have faith, he needs us to have faith._ She looked around at her friends and sighed. They were all so close, it would kill them all if anything happened to one of them. The thought of it stung so much she couldn't bear to think of it.

Catherine was the only one who noticed the doctor walk in. She squeezed Warrick's hand, and he opened his eyes and looked at her. She pointed to the doctor and Warrick turned, then stood took a deep breath.

Grissom looked up, as did the rest of the team, and they all stood together, waiting.

"Are you all here for Mr. Stokes?" He asked, looking at each of them.

"Yeah." Warrick answered. "Is he okay?"

Dr. Kahys, his nametag read, sighed. "Well...we managed to stop all the internal bleeding, and the damage wasn't too bad. He has 13 severely broken ribs including one from the stab wound, his wrist is broken in 2 places, the cuts on his wrists, chest and the stab wound caused him to loose a lot of blood, he has a mild concussion and is completely exhausted."

Warrick listened to the long list of injuries, not surprised by a single one.

"Also..." Kahys continued, "his windpipe has been squeezed so hard, it's decreased a little in size and will make it harder for him to breathe. He lost so much blood and is in such a state of exhaustion, his muscles have almost completely shut down."

Grissom nodded. "Is he going to be okay?"

"It's too soon to tell." Dr. Kahys said. "He's in critical conditon in the ICU right now."

"Can we see him?" Warrick asked, his voice quiet.

Dr. Kahys shook his head. "He needs rest...I don't think it's a good idea, but-"

Warrick shook his head. "With all do respect doc, I know that guy better than I know myself. And I know that when he wakes up, he's gonna be scared to death. He hates hospitals almost as much as the dark and ants. Please don't make him wake up alone."

Dr. Kahys thought about it for a minute, then nodded slowly. "Alright...but only one visitor, and they have to promise to be quiet and let him rest."

Warrick turned to fight with everyone else, but they were all smiling at him.

"Go." Grissom said, pushing Warrick towards Kahys, who started leading him towards Nick's room. They rode silently in the elevator up a few floors, until they got to Nick's. They stepped off the elevator and took a right, walking by a few rooms before stopping.

"This is it. Let me or a nurse know if he wakes up, and let him rest."

"Thanks doc." Warrick said before Kahys turned and left.

Warrick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. _Deja vu all over again..._ he thought to himself as he slowly opened the door and slipped inside, shutting it silently behind him. He leaned back against the door for support when he saw Nick. His left wrist was in a plaster cast, cuts and bruises covering his forearms. There was a small cotton bandage on his neck where the knife had inflicted a small cut. He had a black eye and other numerous bruises on his face. Warrick was glad he couldn't see the damage done to his ribs and chest. He slowly walked over to the left side of Nick's bed and pulled up a chair as close as he could get it and reached across Nick's fragile body, taking his right hand in his.

"Hey buddy." He said softly, careful not to wake him up. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all this Nicky...I should have stopped you. You didn't have to do this...I hated seeing you suffer like that...but I was selfish. I'm so sorry Nick...you don't deserve this...stay strong bro." He gently squeezed Nick's hand. "Give me one more chance. I'm not gonna let go this time, _**I promise**_." Warrick rested his head on the edge of the bed and slowly drifted off to sleep, still holding Nick's hand.

**I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles**

**Watch as we all fly away**

**Sorry for the suspense, I thought this chapter would take me all week, but I got so caught up I couldn't stop writing. The next one will take some time though, I'm gonna be busy this week, but it should be up by Saturday night. Thanks for the reviews and your thoughts. Hope you enjoy.**


	5. Looking for a Miracle

**I used a different song in this chapter, "Miracle" by the Foo Fighters. I was listening to it, and thought it was perfect for this chapter. Hope you like it:**

Warrick listened intently to the beeping of the machines attached to Nick. It was slow and steady, like the rising and falling of his chest, and the only thing proving he was alive. His pulse was so weak Warrick could barely feel it, and that scared the hell out of him. He was motionless and seemed to get paler ever second Warrick stared down at him. His hands were cold and clamy, but Warrick held onto them as tightly as he could without hurting his best friend. The oxygen mask over Nick's mouth wasn't helping either. He needed Nick to wake up so he could see his deep brown eyes, full of life that would bring the warmth back to his hands and dark tone to his skin. He needed Nick to wake up so he could talk to him, see him move and hear his deep Texan accent. He needed Nick to wake up so he would know everything was going to be okay.

Catherine sat across from Warrick on Nick's right, gently stroking his hair back from his forehead and tracing patterns out of the freckles on his arm carefully with her long nails. She softly sang the song that had been stuck her head for the last couple of days.

_"Crazy but I'm relieved this time...begging for sweet relief of blessing empty sky..."_ She looked over at Warrick and smiled, trying to lift his spirits. He smiled weakly back, but looked to worried to really mean it. _"Dying behind these tired eyes...I've been loosing sleep...Please come to me tonight. Hands on a miracle...I got my hands on a miracle..."_ She hoped Nick could hear her and could somehow understand how grateful she was to him. What he did for her was beyond anything ever has before, and she took him for granted. She was gonna find some way to repay him, no matter how long it took.

Dr. Kahys knocked queitly on the door before entering. Warrick and Catherine stepped back so he could check Nick's vitals and jot down some quick notes. Catheirne moved to the other side of the bed and allowed Warrick to wrap his arm around her shoulders and gently kiss her on the forehead. When Dr. Kahys finished, he turned to Warrick and Catherine.

"He hasn't gotten better, but he hasn't gotten any worse."

Warrick nodded silently before quietly asking, "Why won't he wake up?"

Dr. Kahys turned and looked at Nick, then back at his patient's two best friends. "He's in such a state of exhaustion and pain...I think it's best if he doesn't wake up."

A tear rolled down Catherine's cheek and she quickly wiped it away before resting her head against Warrick. "Is he ever gonna wake up?" Warrick asked.

"I don't know, it's still too early to tell. What his body went through...I'm gonna be honest with you...I'm surprised he's alive." Warrick closed his eyes as Kahys continued. "The strain put on his heart may cause complications, and he's still not even close to being able to breathe on his own."

Warrick opened his eyes and nodded, trying to stay calm "What's the worst that could happen?"

Dr. Kahys sighed. "As it's looking...if he doesn't singnifically improve, one of his lungs could collapse because of all the damage done to his ribs, and his heart could fail if any further stress is put on it."

"What's the chances he's gonna live?" Warrick asked, dreading the answer.

"I'm not sure how to answer that. Give it more time, his condition could improve. It's up to him now." Dr. Kahys left as queitly as he had come in, leaving Warrick and Catherine standing there, unsure of what to do.

Catherine lifted her head from Warrick's shoulder and looked up at him. "He's gonna be okay, he has to be..." She said, more tears falling from her eyes.

"I know...he can do this, I know he can." He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to fight back the tears, tried to be strong for Nick.

Catherine looked at her watch and swore. "Damn it. I have to go pick up Lindsey...you gonna be okay?"

Warrick nodded. "Yeah, I'm just gonna stay here with him."

"Okay. I'll come by again as soon as I can." She walked over to Nick and kissed his forehead, squeezing Warrick's arm as she passed and left the room.

Warrick sat back down in his seat, but couldn't look at Nick. He closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. He took several deep breaths and didn't try to ignore the fact that he felt comepletly helpless. He couldn't help but think of what would happen if Nick didn't make it. _I'd go completely insane, that's what._ Warrick thought back to the last time he had thought he was gonna loose Nick. _That was all my fault...and so was when he was kidnapped...and so is this. I should have stopped him, or at least saved him when I had the chance. I just sat there the whole time and watched him sacrifice himself for me..._ Warrick looked up at Nick and couldn't stop the tears from overflowing down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry Nicky..." he whispered, leaning in to grab Nick's uninjured hand once again. "Please forgive me bro..."

"It's not...your fault." Warrick jumped and accidently squeezed Nick's hand hard, making him wince slightly. Nick's voice was weak and muffled because of the oxygen mask covering his mouth, but clear enough for Warrick to understand him. Nick slowly opened his eyes and looked around, and Warrick watched as the confusion set it. Nick looked around the entire room before he focused on Warrick. "Where...what's going on?"

Warrick took a few seconds to revel in the fact that Nick had woken up and was able to talk before he answered. "You're in the hospital...you were hurt pretty badly."

"Are you okay?" Nick asked a little louder, but his voice was scratchy and cracked from the strain it was taking on his throat.

Warrick smiled. "Yeah, thanks to you." Nick nodded slowly. "Do you remember what happened?"

Nick struggled to keep his eyes open. He racked his brain for a moment until he vaguely began to remember the events of a few nights ago. "Yeah..." he nodded slowly. "Where's Catherine?" His voice was getting weaker. He had to use all the energy he had just to talk.

"She's fine Nick, she just had to go pick up Lindsey. You saved us man...thank you so much..."

"Don't mention it..." Nick choked out. He hated being too tired to move, his muscles refusing to listen to him telling them to work. He couldn't even lift his arm off of the bed. He felt like he was stuck in a tub of cement. He didn't even have enough energy to breathe on his own. The pain in his chest and ribs was so extreme, he forgot what it was like to not feel pain. He looked up at Warrick. "Please make...it stop...it hurts...so much..."

More tears started falling from Warrick's eyes. "I can't...I wish I could bro..." Warrick's heart broke when he saw the pleading in Nick's eyes, begging him to make the pain go away. Nick's body started shaking slightly, and he closed his eyes again.

"Do me...a favor..." He said, on the verge of falling back into a deep sleep.

"Anything." Warrick said, leaning closer so Nick wouldn't have to strain to be heard.

"Ask her." Nick said softly before his head fell to the side slightly and he was overcome by sleep.

Warrick didn't even have to think about what Nick had meant. _He wants me to ask Catherine to marry me. He's in more pain than anyone could ever imagine, and he's thinking about that_. Warrick shook his head and smiled.

"You got it Nicky." He slowly rose from his seat and walked to the door, turning around and looking back at his best friend before leaving. He walked into the waiting room to find Grissom and Greg slumped in their chairs, staring at the floor. They both stood and walked over to Warrick when they saw him, and relaxed when they saw he was smiling.

"He woke up for a minute." Warrick said, his smile spreading to Greg and Grissom.

"What did he say?" Greg asked.

Warrick's smile faded and the worry returned to the oldest and youngest CSIs faces. "He's in a lot of pain...remembers what happened...and told me to ask Catherine to marry me." He said, the smile returning.

Greg and Grissom exchanged glances before Grissom clapped Warrick on the shoulder. "Well, you don't want to disappoint Nicky."

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave him either..."

"We'll stay with him." Greg said, and Grissom nodded in agreement. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you took a few hours to go do something he told you to do, Warrick." Greg added.

Warrick gave in with a laugh. "Good point. Alright...I just hope she says yes..."

"She will." Grissom said reassuringly. "Now go, don't worry, everything'll be fine."

**Everything that we survived **

**It's gonna be alright**

"This was a great idea, Warrick." Catherine, taking another sip of wine. "I should let you cook more often, you're not too bad."

Warrick laughed. "My Grams taught me, said it might come in handy when I met the right girl." He said as he reached across the table and took her hand.

"Has it come in handy before?" Catherine asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Not until now."

Catherine gave in to the smile and let it spread across her face.

Warrick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. _Alright Nicky...here it goes..._

Warrick looked deep into Catherine's eyes for a minute, then slowly got down on one knee in front of her, taking her hand in both of his. She put her hand to her mouth and her heart started beating ten times faster than normal.

"Catherine...these last five months have been the best of my life. I've known since the minute I met you that you were the one...I just never thought I could be so lucky yo have someone like you in my life. Now that I do, I never want to let you go. I want to spend the rest of my life where I've always belonged...with you." He reached into his pocket and took out the small velvet box, openening it to reveal the diamond ring inside. "Catherine...will you marry me?"

Catherine nodded, tears of joy streaming down her face. "Yes...of course I will..." Warrick smiled as he slipped the ring onto her finger. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at the thought of spending the rest of her life with him.

**Just lucky we're alive **

**Got no vision, I've been blind**

Warrick's smile vanished and his legs stopped moving forward when he saw Grissom talking to Dr. Kahys with that Grissom look on his face. That look he gets when he's doing the best he can to understand something while keeping his emotions buried inside of him. Greg was sitting on the floor with his back and head pressed against the wall, his eyes closed tightly and his fists clenched at his sides. Warrick was just out of earshot of the converation that was coming to an end between Kahys and Grissom. When Kahys looked over Grissom's shoulder, causing him to turn, Warrick saw Grissom sigh as he and Dr. Kahys walked over to him slowly. Warrick looked back and forth between the two older men, waitng for one of them to say something.

"Mr. Brown..." Kahys began carefully, trying to plan out what he was going to say. "I'm afraid I have some bad news." Grissom stood silently next to Warrick, staring at the floor. Greg didn't move from his spot on the floor, he didn't even look in their direction. "Mr. Stokes had a heart attack."

Warrick's heart jumped into his throat. "Is...is he okay?" His voice didn't sound like his own.

"We lost him a couple times for a few minutes..." Warrick's mouth went completely dry and he choked on his own breath. "But we were able to bring him back. Unfortunatly, the possibility of it happening again is very high...if he makes it through this one. He's still unstable, and is getting worse." Warrick could barely comprehend what was happening. He looked at Grissom, who finally spoke.

"He's gonna die, Warrick." He said softly. "You have his power of attorney-"

Warrick shook his head and held up a hand. "Wait...you're saying you want to pull the plug?" Grissom didn't respond, but Dr. Kahys slowly nodded.

"Some of his organs could be donated and save-"

Warrick cut him off. "No. He's not gonna die. He can't just die. I'm not just gonna give up..."

"He's suffering, he can't even breathe on his own. Do you think this is what he wants?" Dr. Kahys asked with as much compassion as he had in his heart.

Warrick hated to think of how much Nick was suffering, but he wouldn't give up. "Yes. He would never give up on me, and I'm not giving up on him."

"Mr. Brown, you don't understand, he-"

"He's not gonna fucking die!" Warrick said angrily, making a few nurses and other bystanders turn their heads and look in their direction. "This is my last chance to save him. I've let him down too many times. I don't give a shit how selfish I'm being right now, **Nick is not going to die**."

Dr. Kahys opened his mouth to protest, but Grissom was quicker than he was. "That's your decison, Warrick. And it appears that you have made up your mind." He looked at Kahys, who simply nodded and walked away. Warrick fell back into a chair and stared down at the floor._ Nick actually died. He died and came back. He's not giving up, so neither am I. They can give up, that doesn't matter. I'm never giving up. I promised him..._

"You gotta understand, Griss...I can't just..." Warrick's voice trailed off as the tears came.

Grissom sat down next to Warrick and put his hand on his shoulder. "I know." He said quietly. "I'm just glad you have the guts to do this for him, that you can be this strong for him." Warrick looked up and was surprised to see a few tears rolling slowly down Grissom's cheeks from under his glasses, disappearing into his beard. "Thanks Griss." He said, turning away to look down the hall at the youngest member of their team. "Poor Greggo...he really looks up to Nick."

Grissom followed Warrick's gaze and looked at his former labrat, still up against the wall. "You guys are like his big brothers. He wants to be just like you."

Warrick got up and walked the few yards down the hall and sat up against the wall next to Greg. The younger man opened his eyes and looked at Warrick blankly. "Is he gonna die?" He asked, the life and emotion gone from his usually chipper voice.

Warrick shook his head. "No, he's not." Greg swallowed the lump in his throat and looked back down at the floor. "Ya know, Nick was really proud of you when you became a CSI. Ya know what he said?" Greg looked back up at Warrick. "He said he wished he could be more like you, because you never gave up on what you wanted and you always see the silver lining in everything." Greg smiled. "As long as we keep fighting, he will too."

**Searching every way **

**You're right here in my sights **

**Hands on a miracle...**

**I'm sorry that the medical part of this is a little shaky, I did my best. The point is Nick and Warrick's friendship anyway. Thanks for the comments and suggestions, I wanna write what you guys wanna read.**


	6. Promise

**I changed the song again. It's "In Your Honor" by the Foo Fighters. Very fitting for this chapter if I do say so myself. Enjoy.**

Warrick stared in at Nick through the tiny glass window on the door. Nick had been in a coma for 3 days, and he hadn't left this hallway yet. Dr. Kahys was checking on him, and it didn't seem to be going so good. He ripped his eyes from Nick and looked down the hall at the rest of his team waiting as patiently as they could. Sara was pacing up and down while Grissom, Greg and Catherine watched her. Brass was pretending to read a sign. Warrick sighed and walked over to them, shaking his head when they looked hopfully at him.

"How does he look?" Grissom asked.

"I...I don't know...he definitly doesn't look like Nick. He's so pale..." Catherine rubbed his arm as he looked down at the floor. Sara stopped pacing when Kahys walked out of Nick's room queitly and started walking towards them .The walk was only a few yards, but seemed to take forever. Warrick hoped he was imagining the look every doctor on TV has before he gives out bad news.

"I have some bad news." _Fuck_. "Mr. Stokes' condition is getting worse. He's completely and utterly exhausted and is very likely to stay in the coma, if he doesn't die."

Tears started to fall from Sara and Catherine's eyes, and the guys just stared blankly. Brass was the only one who could find his voice. "There's gotta be something we can do." He said.

Dr. Kahys sighed. "There is. Pray that he makes it through the night. If he makes it that far, there's still some hope, even though he may not wake up. But I'd suggest you get your goodbyes in while you still can. Visiting hours are almost over, and I could only manage to talk my way into allowing one of you to stay with him past those hours. We couldn't give him morphine for the pain, but I'm pretty sure he's not aware of what's happening to him. I'm sorry, I wish there was more I could do." He turned and walked away slowly and into another patient's room. The CSI team stood in complete silence for what seemed like an eternity before the youngest member couldn't take it anymore.

"What are we gonna do?" Greg asked, his voice squeeky from exhaustion and fear.

Grissom sighed heavily. "We do what the doctor said. We pray...and we go say goodbye in case it's our last chance, no matter how much we don't want to think about."

"We can't just give up!" Warrick nearly yelled at his supervisor.

Grissom remained calm, he knew Warrick wasn't really mad at him. "We're not giving up, Warrick. This is the only thing we can do. What if we don't take this chance and end up regretting it later? How bad do you think we'd all feel? Would Nick want that?"

Warrick closed his eyes tightly. _Damn Grissom, why does he always have to be right?_ "No." He shook his head. "No, he wouldn't." They stood in silence for a few more minutes, lost in their own thoughts.

"I'll go first." Sara finally said, turning slowly and walking towards Nick's room and quietly entering. She walked over to the right side of the bed and smiled sadly down at her friend. "Hey Nick." She said quietly. "I'm sorry this is how it has to be...but just in case..." She wiped the tears from her cheeks and continued. "I know we weren't best friends or anything...but I still really care about you. You're a good friend, and a great CSI. Hang in there..." She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "I'm gonna miss you Nick. Goodbye." She walked slowly out of the hospital room, not looking back. She walked back over to her team and let Grissom hug her as she cried against his shoulder.

Brass didn't say a word, he just walked into Nick's room silently. He walked over to where Sara had stood minutes before and didn't try and be a tough cop, he just let the tears come. "Hi Nicky." He said, trying to ignore the tubes running in and out of Nick. "I'm sorry I didn't do a better job to prevent this from happening to you...this is my fault, and I hope you can forgive me. You've always been like a son to me Nick...it's gonna be tough without you..." He smiled slightly and very gently ruffled Nick's hair. "You're a great guy...I'll see ya later kid." Brass wiped the tears from his eyes and took a few deep breaths before going back to his friends in the hallway.

"Guess I'm up." Greg said as Brass returned to them. His hands were shaking as he reached for the door handle, pulling it down slowly and stepping inside. He took Brass and Sara's spot on the right of Nick. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady. "Hey man..." His voice trailed off and he laughed lamely. "Sorry...I just don't know what to say...I wanna thank you for being such a good friend, like my older brother. I've learned so much for you, I wish I could have done more for you. Thanks for everything...I'm really gonna miss you man." Greg left the room as quietly as he had come in and let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when he got back to his team.

Grissom sighed and released his hold on Sara. He forced himself to walk into the comfortably small hospital room and approach the side of Nick's bed. He looked down at his CSI Level Three and felt sadness overwhelm him. "I'm sorry Nicky." He whispered. "I never told you how proud I am of you. I never gave you half as much credit as you deserve. You're a helluva CSI, and the best person I've ever been lucky enough to meet and get a chance to know. What you've done for me...this team...you made us a family, and I can't thank you enough for it. We'd just be co-workers forced to get along if it weren't for you. I can't tell you how much I'm gonna miss you around the lab and making me go to breakfast with you guys. I'm really poud of you for everything you've done. I'll see you soon Nicky." Grissom wasn't as surprised as the rest of the team would have been if they had saw the tear roll down his cheek. He lightly brushed it away before leaving the room.

Catherine was crying even before she went in. She took deep breaths to try and calm down, but it didn't work as well as she hoped. A lump formed in her throat when she saw Nick, and she had to choke it down so she could talk. "Nicky...I can't tell you enough how thankful I am to have met you." She managed to control her sobs and went on. "What you've done for me over these years...I wish I could repay you. That night after Kelly died...I know this is gonna sound stupid and weird...but it meant a lot to me. You mean a lot to me. I'm sorry I never did a good job of letting you know that. " She leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his. She smoothed his dark hair and smiled through the tears. "I'm gonna miss you so much...I love you Nicky, you're the best friend I could ever have asked for." She gently squeezed his hand and left, closing the door softly behind her. She started walking slowly back to her friends, but was running by the time she fell against Warrick and buried her face against his chest, the tears taking over. Sara was once again crying on Grissom's shoulder, and Brass and Greg were standing against the wall, staring at the floor.

Grissom's beeper went off and he swore under his breath. "You've got to be kidding me Ecklie..." He shoved the beeper back into it's clip on his belt. "He needs his graveyard shift back...they're overloaded on cases." The members of his team nodded slowly in understanding. They still had their jobs they had to do.

"I'm gonna stay...here...with Nick..." Warrick choked out, still clinging to Catherine.

Grissom nodded. "Yeah, I know...let us know if anything changes." He said softly.

Warrick slightly nodded. "Yeah...I will..." He watched as his family left before walking down the hall and reclaiming his place outside of Nick's room, staring in through the window. _I can't do this... _He said to himself, closing his eyes and resting his head against the door._ How am I supposed to say bye to my best friend? For good?_ He pushed himself off of the door and opened his eyes, taking several deep breaths. _This isn't about me. It's about Nick. He's gonna make it. He has to make it. Help him make it._ He reached out and opened the door, hesitating slightly before walking inside. He closed it slowly behind him and kept his eyes on Nick as he pulled up a chair to the left side of Nick's bed. He had somehow gotten paler and his fingers felt colder. Warrick's voice was barely above a whisper. "Hey bro."

**Can you hear me **

**Hear me screaming **

**Breaking in the muted skies**

Nick found an odd comfort in the bright, white light that was now surrounding him. Nothing hurt anymore and he wasn't tired. He had decided that he was most likely dead, and wasn't too mad about that. He enjoyed the feeling...or lack thereof. He stayed like that for quite a long time before he heard faint voices, but couldn't tell what they were saying. They sounded upset, but he couldn't be sure who they were or what was wrong. Then it all came rushing back all at once. The bright light seemed to have been suddenly switched off, and he was now covered in darkness. The pain coursed through his body and intensified with each passing second. He tried to move, but couldn't. His eyes refused to open, and the harder he tried to scream, the more his chest began to ache. The pain was unbearable, and he had no idea what was going on. The first thought that rushed through his mind was that he was back underground. It was so similar. He couldn't see anything, couldn't move, breathe or scream for help, except the pain was worse. He felt like he had been hit by a very big truck and run over a couple of times before being thrown off of a cliff. The silence was deafening. The darkness around him was scaring the hell out him. All of the very little amount of energy he had was being put into trying to move and breathe. He felt whatever grip he had slowly fading away. It felt like everything inside of him was being drained out, and it hurt like hell. He wanted to stop fighting so he could go back to feeling nothing, but something wouldn't let him. His body was screaming at him to give up, but his heart just wouldn't stop beating. Then, through the pain, he felt something warm on his hand. The voice that followed was faint and sounded distant, but it was there. The warmth on his hand and soothing voice was keeping him sane...keeping him alive.

**This thunder heart **

**Like bombs beating **

**Echoing a thousand miles**

Warrick carefully put his hand back into Nick's. It was limp and felt like ice. The oxygen mask that had been covering his mouth was now gone, so he took that as a good sign. His skin was paler, and even his hair looked lighter. Warrick prayed he couldn't feel anything.

"Hey bro." He said again, not wanting to continue. He gently ran his thumb over a scar on Nick's hand and tried to imagine Nick's brown eyes staring back at him. "I hope you can hear me man. I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you..." His voice cracked when he thought about the fact that Nick had actually died a number of times before they were able to keep him alive. "I was with Catherine even though I should have been here, with you. I asked her to marry me like you said. She said yes. Thanks for giving me the courage to do that Nicky." Warrick was well aware of the fact that he was rambling, but he didn't care. He didn't want to get to the part where he would have to say goodbye to his best friend _'just in case.'_ He had no idea what he was gonna say, and even though is heart told him Nick was gonna be alright, his realistic mind and experience were telling him he should say what he has to. He gripped Nick's hand a little tighter, hoping he could help him hold on. "Everyone else came and saw you earlier. They're all really upset. I still can't believe this is happening...I should have been able to help you...I'm so sorry."

The tears returned and flowed from Warrick's eyes and down his face. "The doctor said we should say our goodbyes while we still can. I don't want to...so I'm just gonna keep on talking, and you can listen if you can hear me." He paused and waited for a response, even though he knew he wasn't going to be getting one. "I've never known anyone like you before. You're impossible to hate, no matter how hard anyone tries. You have got to be the strongest person alive. After everything you've been through, and you're still here...I wish I could be more like you. I never had any friends in high school or even college. But that doesn't matter. I could have had tons of friends, and not one of them would be half as good a friend as you are. I've never been able to trust anyone like I can trust you, with anything. I know we've had our fair share of stupid little fights...but I don't care. They just go to show how close we've gotten over the years. No matter how hard things get, you've always been there, and I hope you can say the same about me. You really are like a brother to me man. I don't know if I can make it without you..." The thought of actually losing Nick hit Warrick like a punch to the gut. He had been able to not think about it a lot over the past couple of days, but the reality was starting to sink in. "You've gotta be okay Nicky. You're too strong. Don't give up now, I know you can do this...I'll be right here the whole time, just hang on. Please." Warrick fell silent. He glanced over at the heart monitor next to Nick's bed every few second to make sure he was really hearing the beeps. He took a deep breath and rested his head in his free hand and smiled slightly as the memories of him and Nick started flashing through his head.

**Can you feel me **

**Feel me breathing **

**One last breath before I close my eyes **

**This offering for receiving **

**Deliver me into the other side**

At the price of the voice becoming clearer, the pain got worse. Nick didn't care anymore. All he wanted to do was wake up. He knew he was alive because he could feel the warm hand in his and hear a voice...Warrick's voice. Nick struggled harder to open his eyes and forced more air into his lungs. His ribs and lungs weren't liking the idea too much and surges of pain coursed through his body with even the slightest breath. He tried to squeeze the hand in his, but his fingers refused to move, as did the rest of his body. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and more air seemed to be going out than coming in. _What the hell is going on? Why can't I move? Why does everything hurt so much?_ Nick tried to calm down. He was so confused and frustrated. He decided to focus all his energy on opening his eyes. It took way too much effort, and once they were slightly cracked, he began to regret it. He thought the pain before was bad. This was ten times worse. Each little ache stung like a knife being twisted into his flesh. He couldn't control it when his body started shaking lightly, and even that hurt. His vision was blurry and clouded, but all he was interested in was the shady figure next to him. He knew right away it was Warrick, but he wasn't looking at him. His head was in his other hand, covering his eyes. Nick opened his mouth, but couldn't get enough air into his lungs to speak. He was actually glad when he started shaking harder, causing Warrick to look up at him.

Warrick thought he was dreaming when he saw Nick's eyes were slightly open and looking into his. He's not...he's not supposed to be... Warrick shook his head and cleared the lump from his throat. "Nicky?"

Nick tried again to say something, anything, but just couldn't, so he settled for a small smile. His lips were cracked and chapped, but he didn't care. It was the only part of him that didn't hurt unbelieveably bad.

Warrick couldn't have stopped the smile from spreading across his face if he had wanted to. He wasn't imagining this, Nick had woken up. His smile slowly started to fade when he watched as Nick struggled to breathe and winced in pain every few seconds. He felt so helpless when he saw the pain reach Nick's eyes. He slowly reached forward and wiped the sweat from Nick's forhead and was surprised to see that Nick had a very high fever. Fear started showing in Nick's eyes along with the pain, so Warrick decided it was best to try and keep him calm.

"It's okay Nicky. You're in the hospital...you had a heart attack." Nick frowned in confusion, so Warrick elaborated. "You were hurt pretty badly when we were held hostage, do you remember that?" Nick nodded slowly. "Well...you had some trouble breathing, and your heart had a lot of strain on it and you ended up having a heart attack..." Warrick thought about how much he should actually tell his best friend. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear that he had actually flat lined and been brought back a couple of times.

Nick could tell there was something more that Warrick wasn't telling him, and even though he was scared, he wanted to know everything. "What else?" He managed to choke out painfully.

Warrick sighed. He wasn't sure how to say it. "You...uh..." Nick squeezed Warrick's hand as hard as he could, even though Warrick barely felt it. "You died, Nick. They lost you a couple times, but were able to bring you back. You were in a coma for a few days..." His voice trailed off and he looked away from Nick, who made no hint that he had understood what Warrick had just told him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Warrick not being able to bring himself to look at Nick. He was afraid to see the pain and fear in his brother's eyes and know there was nothing he could do to make it go away, no matter how much both of them wanted it to. Nick felt all the energy quickly leaving his body and fought off the urge to let himself slip away. Instead, he forced air into his lungs so he could talk again.

"Why did they...save me?" He asked, his voice barely audible.

Warrick looked up at Nick. He tried to give him a reassuring smile, but didn't think it would work as well as he hoped. "I wouldn't let them let you go. They said your chances weren't too good...but I didn't and still don't care. Heroes don't die. You can do this Nick."

A few tears fell from Nick's tired eyes. There was no better feeling in the world than knowing Warrick cared so much about him. It was, however, countered by the worst feeling in the world. Nick wasn't stupid. He could feel himself dying. He understood there was very little chance that he had the strength left in him to pull off this miraculous recovery. He smiled and shook his head. "Thanks bro...but I think the hero dies in this one."

Warrick leaned forward and put his other hand on Nick's uninjured wrist, gripping it firmly, but gently. He looked his best friend right in the eyes and spoke with more confidence than either one of them had ever heard. "Nicky...listen to me man. I don't care what the doctors say, what Grissom says, or even what you say. There's no way in hell you're going out this way. Don't even think for a second that you're giving up on me now. I know it hurts like hell...but you have to hang on." Warrick coulnd't keep the desperation from his voice. He was begging and demanding Nick to keep fighting at the same time.

Nick tried to take a deep breath, but his ribs and chest protested painfully. His breath was ragged as he exhaled slowly. His eyes were threatening to close and never open again, but he focused on Warrick and managed to keep them open. "I'm not...giving up..." He said breathlessly. "Just...promise me something."

"Anything." Warrick said softly.

"If I'm not...gonna make it..." Warrick started shaking his head, so Nick repeated himself a little louder and squeezed Warrick's hand a little harder. "If I'm not gonna make it...please don't...don't leave me alone..." Warrick opened his mouth to answer, but Nick continued. "And don't get all depressed if I die...just marry Catherine and move on."

"Nicky...you're not gonna-"

"Just...promise me." Nick choked out, trying to swallow the pain in his throat.

"I promise Nicky."

Nick nodded slightly and sighed as heavily as he was allowed to without any more pain. He let his grip on Warrick's hand loosen as his hands started shaking more than the rest of his body. Nick hated the fact that he was starting to get used to the pain. He tried to move, but it was like his brain had been cut off from the rest of his body and he was no longer in control. He wished someone would just punch him in the face so he could go back to sleep.

Dr. Kahys stopped dead in his tracks when he walked into the hospital room and saw that Nick was awake. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, like he was mimicking a fish. He finally closed his mouth and walked over to the side of the bed opposite Warrick and stared down at Nick like he had eight heads. "Mr. Stokes...I'm glad to see you're awake." Nick craned his neck slightly and looked up at the doctor, offering a small smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better." Nick said with his usual sarcasm.

Dr. Kahys sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't be able to feel anything...you had an allergic reaction to the morphine we gave you before and don't want to risk it. I expect you've already been explained your current situation?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah..." He said quietly, noticing Warrick tense.

"It's still too early to tell if you're going to make a full recovery or not. But I'll be honest with you...the fact that you were actually able to wake up and speak was beyond my expectations. You could still have another heart attack, or one of your lungs could collapse...but there's no way to be sure. We'll have to monitor your progress over the next few days and see where we can go from that."

Nick seemed to disregard everything the doctor had just said. "Can I sleep?" He asked.

Dr. Kahys shook his head. "You'll have to stay awake for at least 48 hours. After that, you'll need to eat something and see if you get sick to your stomach to be able to tell if you can sleep again. If you fall asleep, you may never wake up again."

Nick groaned and looked at the wall. He seriously doubted he had the strength to stay awake for 48 hours, maybe more. He was quiet for a minute before asking, "What are my chances?"

"Like I said...it's still to early-"

"You've got to have some idea. Right now, at this point in time, what are my chances?"

Dr. Kahys looked back and forth between Warrick and Nick before answering in almost a whisper. "Not very good...with my experience...I'd say 1 in 100,000." Dr. Kahys' last statement added to the pain already weighing down on Nick's chest, but Warrick just nodded confidently.

"That's good enough for me."

**Mine is yours and yours is mine **

**I will sacrifice **

**In your honor **

**I would die tonight **

**For you to feel alive**

**Sorry it took so long to update, hope it was worth the wait. I have the next chapter alomost half done, so it'll hopefully be up by the middle of the week. Thanks for the reviews.**


	7. Almost

**Song in this chapter is "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters.**

* * *

**I've got another confession to make **

**I'm your fool **

**Everyone's got their chains to break **

**Holding you**

Nick sighed and swore under his breath when he felt the sharp pains in his ribs. He was very annoyed by the whole situaiton. He hated not being able to move and being too tired to care. He hated the constant pain that he was starting to get used to, and he was really starting to hate being awake. He wanted to sleep for a very long time and wake up when he wasn't so tired. But most of all, he hated looking at Warrick. He hated seeing the pain in his best friend's eyes, hated seeing the fear he knew was there because of him. He hated not knowing what to say or do, because there was very little he was capable of right now. He hated the fact that he was very well aware of the fact that if he died, Warrick was gonna be the one watching.

Warrick could easily tell Nick was fustrated. He was obviously having great difficulty breathing and controling the shaking of his body. He watched silently as his brother tried to move, even though it was causing more pain. Warrick knew Nick too well. If someone wouldn't let him do something, or told him he couldn't do it, it just made him want to do it even more. And 9 times out of 10, Nick did it.

"This is fucking ridiculous." Nick said in annoyance. "Why the hell can't I move?"

Warrick took a deep breath to keep his tears at bay. "You're just tired man, you've been through a lot. Just relax, you don't have to move. You're probably making it worse anyway, it obviously hurts you to move."

"Breathing hurts. Everything hurts." Nick said. He tried one last time to move his arms, then his legs, before he gave up. "Whatever." He tried taking a deep breath, but stopped when he felt one of his ribs crack. He closed his eyes for a minute before opening them and looking over at Warrick. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Warrick frowned. "For what? You didn't do anything wrong...I should be apologizing to you."

Nick shook his head slightly. "This isn't fair to you...you shouldn't have to stay here and keep me awake for 2 days. I know I made you promise me you wouldn't...but you can leave."

Warrick squeezed Nick's hand when he realized he was still holding it. "Why the hell would I want to do that? I made that promise because I intend to keep it. I'm sorry to tell ya Nick...but you're stuck with me for the remainder of your stay here."

Nick smiled. "That won't be so bad." He said before they both fell silent.

Warrick just couldn't get one question from his head. He knew why Nick had done so much to save him and Catherine. He's Nick. But he couldn't figure out why... He let his thoughts trail away from it. It was definitly not the right time to ask him anything, especially that. He swore to himself when Nick read his mind.

"Something wrong?" He asked before laughing slightly. "I mean, other than this..." He looked around the room and at the machine next to his bed to show what he meant.

Warrick smiled at Nick's never ending sense of humor. "No...it's...just forget about it."

"You can tell me bro."

Warrick laughed. "You never let anything go, do you?"

"No, I really don't. You should know that by now."

Warrick gave in, as much as he didn't want to. They needed something else to talk about. Over the past 17 or so hours, they had covered virtually every topic except the one on Warrick's mind right now, so he really didn't have a choice. "I was just...I wanted to know...it was just kinda weird when you..." He had no idea how to say it, so he just said it. "Why did you tell that guy...Sam...to kill you?"

Nick didn't remember doing that at first, but then it all came back to him. He remembered feeling the metal barrel pressed tightly against his temple as his knees started to give out. He remembered telling the man holding the gun to just do it. He hadn't thought about the fact that Warrick and Catherine...not to mention Brass and Grissom...had been right in front of him. He had to give Warrick an answer, so he decided to go with the truth. "I just...I wanted to see if someone would actually have the guts to go through with it. For 26 years...ever since I was 9...I've been waiting for someone to finish the job...for someone to just get it over with, but they never do." Nick said the last part almost in a whisper. He looked down at his pale arms and appeared to forget that Warrick was there.

Warrick let Nick's words sink in before he asked another question he was fairly sure he didn't want to know the answer to, but at the same time he needed to. "Did you want him to?" There was no emotion in his voice. It was flat, and sounded very odd coming from Warrick, even to him.

Nick looked up and met Warrick's dark green eyes. He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again when he realized he didn't have one. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying when the realization that he had to actually think about it dawned on him. The look in Warrick's eyes when he didn't respond right away with a confident 'No.' wasn't helping too much either. Nick looked back down at his arms and let a few tears fall from his eyes and slowly roll down his cheeks. _I didn't want to die, not there, not like that in front of them. I don't want to die...do I?_

Warrick's breath caught in his throat and his hands started shaking slightly. "Nicky...man...please answer me. Say something."

Nick closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at Warrick. He was thinking about all of the horrible things that have happened to him over the last 35 years of his life. The babysitter...Kristy...Crane...Gordon...and those were just the major ones. He knew he would give anything to never have to think about those things ever again. He didn't want to sleep only a few hours a week because he's still afraid of the dark and have dreams about being six feet underground in a plexiglass coffin. He didn't like not being able to date because everytime he had sex with someone, it inevitably reminded him of when he was 9 and more times than not, he'd freak out. He didn't want to have to check his attic every night before he went to bed to feel safe, even though he was still unable to fall asleep. He didn't want to feel so worthless and pathetic anymore.

"I guess I sorta did...I have nothing to live for, Warrick." Nick said softly.

Warrick gripped Nick's hand firmer. "Then you have everything to fight for." Nick opened his eyes and forced himself to look at Warrick. "Nicky...I know a lot of awful stuff has happened to you that you in no way deserved...but you somehow keep going. I don't know how you do it, but you do. So why give up now? I don't care what the doctor says your chances are, you can do this."

Nick smiled sadly. "I'm not sure I want to do this...it'd be better for everyone if I just..." He trailed off and looked at the foot of his bed.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, or say anything remotely close to it ever again. You obviously didn't hear anything when the entire team, Brass included, came in and each told you how much they would miss you if you didn't make it. I don't know where you get the idea that anyone would be better off without you, but you had better get it out of your head pretty damn fast." Warrick took a deep breath so he wouldn't start yelling at Nick. He kept his voice low and steady. "You can't give up on me now man...you know I can't do this without you."

Nick let his eyes switch back over to Warrick. He smiled, this time a real Nick Stokes smile. "I never said I was gonna give up...it was just an appealing idea."

Warrick smiled back at Nick. "Yeah, well being my best man at my wedding better be more of an appealing idea than that."

Nick's smile widened, and all the pain seemed to disappear. "You asked her? She said yes?"

Warrick nodded. "Yeah...you were right...again..."

Nick laughed, but stopped abuptly and winced in pain. "Owe...but that's great man. I'd hug you...but that's apparantly not an option."

"That's okay...you just sit there and relax. But that's what you have to promise me."

Nick's smile faded. "Given the cirumstances-"

"Nick." Warrick cut him off.

Nick sighed and nodded. "Yeah...of course." He smiled slightly again. "I promise."

**My head is giving me life or death **

**But I can't choose I swear I'll never give in **

**I refuse**

Catherine ran down the hall towards Grissom's office, almost knocking Hodges over in the process.

"Make a siren noise or something to give people a heads up." He said as Catherine ran past him, ignoring his presence. She threw the door open and ran up to Grissoms desk, who was staring at her open mouthed.

"Catherine, what the he-"

"Nick woke up!" She said breathlessly.

Grissom's mouth hung a little lower. "He did? When? Is he gonna be okay?" He was now standing behind his desk and had completely forgotten about the paperwork he had to get done so Ecklie wouldn't flip out.

"Like...I don't know...a little while ago...Warrick just had Dr. Kahys call me, but..." Her voice trailed off.

Grissom's excitement turned to fear. "But what?"

Catherine sighed. "He has to stay awake for at least 48 hours, or he'll never wake up again. There's still a chance of another heart attack or a collapsing lung. He can't move at all really...but he can talk and remembers what happened and everything."

Grissom took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Okay. We have to tell the rest of the team, they need to know." Catherine nodded in agreement. "We also should think about calling his parents."

Catherine this time shook her head no. "His parents don't want to know."

"What do you mean?" Grissom said with a frown.

"After Nick was kidnapped," Catherine explained. "His mom and dad said they don't want to know when his life is in danger anymore. They only want to know after he's fully recovered or if he..." She didn't finish the sentence. "Jenn is who we're supposed to tell."

Grissom nodded. He knew Nick's sister, they all did. She visited Nick a lot. They were only 2 years apart, her being the older of the two. Out of the 7 siblings, they were the closest. Over all the times she's been to Vegas, her and Catherine have gotten very close. They would spend a lot of time together shopping, going to dinner and movies. Nick joked that coming to visit him was an excuse for her to visit with Catherine. They had become like sisters to each other, and Nick was very grateful for that. "Okay. Do you want to call her while I go tell the rest of the team?"

Catherine sighed again. "Yeah, better get it over with." She slowly left Grissom's office for the break room, where she could call Jenn, and Grissom paged his team members to come to his office immediatly.

**I was too weak to give in **

**Too strong to loose**

"Hello?" Jenn answered in her usual happy tone.

"Hey Jenn, it's Catherine."

"Oh my God, how are you?"

"I'm fine..."

Jenn picked up on Catherine's obvious concern and nervousness for something. "What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

Catherine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's Nick."

Jenn gasped. "Oh my God...not again...is he okay?"

Catherine shook her head even though she knew Jenn couldn't see her. "It's a long story...we were held hostage at a crime scene, and he took a pretty brutal beating. Then when he was at the hospital...he had a heart attack and fell into a coma for a couple days..."

"You've got to be kidding me." Jenn thought out loud.

"He woke up a few hours ago, but it's not looking too good. He could have another heart attack, one of his lungs could collapse, or he could fall back into a coma. Warrick's with him right now...he has to stay awake for at least 48 hours. The doctors don't think there's a very good chance of him living...but you know Nicky."

Jenn laughed softly. "Yeah..." Catherine bit her lip when she heard Jenn sniffle quietly. She was fighting back her own tears. Jenn took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Okay...I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay. Call me and let me know when you're gonna get in, I'll pick you up at the airport."

"I will...thanks Catherine."

"Anytime sweetie. I'll call you if anything changes."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." Catherine slowly hung up and sank into a chair. She thought about getting up and joining the rest of the team in Grissom's office, but decided against it when she realized she was shaking. She took several slow, deep breaths and rested her head against the wall behind her, closing her eyes. Her closed eyelids did nothing to stop the tears from finally falling from her eyes.

**My heart is under arrest again **

**But I break loose**

Grissom stood behind his desk, not moving from where he had stood when Catherine had told him the latest on Nick. Sara, Greg, Brass and Doc Robbins were in front of him, all eagerly waiting for him to tell them what was going on. They knew it had something to do with Nick, and they didn't like the fact that Grissom was being so quiet.

Greg rolled his eyes when Grissom didn't say anything after they'd been waiting for a good 3 or 4 minutes. "Grissom, what the hell is going on? You're killing us, man."

Grissom broke his stare from his fetal pig and looked at his team. He sighed heavily and cleared his throat before repeating to them what Catherine had just told him. The team stared back at Grissom silently, none of them speaking after he had finished.

"This, by no means, indicates that we're giving up any hope whatsoever. We all know how strong Nick is and what he's capable of doing. We've gotta be strong for him, and each other." Their supervisor looked back and forth between each of them, glancing at them over his glasses. He hoped his words could somehow encourage them and keep their spirits up, no matter how heartwrenching their current situation was. Losing Nick would tear them apart, something they coulnd't afford to let happen.

**Has someone taken your faith **

**Its real the pain you feel **

**You trust you must confess**

Nick struggled at keeping his eyes open and breathing at the same time. It was hard enough handling one or the other, nevermind at once. He was feeling very claustrophobic due to the fact he was unable to move and/or breathe. He was very grateful, however, for the fact that he was not surrounded by plexiglass and being eaten by ants.

Warrick wished he could snap his fingers and make everything go away. He would be fine with it if he woke up and this had all been a very messed up nightmare. The cold, shaky hand in his and raspy voice coming from his best friend contradicted that wish.

"Did you ever find out why they did that?"

Warrick didn't understand what Nick meant at first, then he figured out he meant the guys that had held them hostage and almost beaten him to death. "Actually...no, we didn't. They were both taken out by the snipers...except for..." Warrick trailed off when he remembered Ray hadn't been outside when the other two had been shot.

Nick looked at the table next to his bed. "I...uh...I killed him..." Nick said quietly.

Warrick swore to himself. "What happened?"

Nick didn't look back up at Warrick. "After he pulled me back inside, he pulled a knife and held it against my neck..." Warrick glanced down at the thin, scabbing cut just above Nick's Adam's Apple. "Then I got away from him...but he stabbed me...so I fell over...and stabbed him in the chest when he ran at me..." Nick tried to laugh it off, but it was hollow and forced.

Warrick gently put his other hand on Nick's arm. "It's not your fault Nick, you had to protect yourself."

Nick looked up at Warrick. "I know...pretty stupid that I feel bad for killing someone who would have killed me, huh?"

Warrick shook his head and smiled. "Considering your personality, no. It's normal Nick, not stupid."

Nick nodded slowly. "I know...at least he didn't hurt you or Catherine."

"I never thanked you enough for that." Warrick said.

"It's no big-."

Warrick shook his head. "No, it is. You didn't have to do that. You took care of her for me when I couldn't, you'll never know how thankful I am for that."

Nick smiled. "I'd do it all again if I had to. I think it's in my job description somewhere anyway."

Warrick laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised at all man."

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes. The urge so sleep was starting to become too much for Nick. He was glad when Dr. Kahys walked in, giving him something else to distract himself from the pain and urge to close his eyes for good.

"Hello gentleman." Dr. Kahys greeted cheerfully. "I've gotta hand it to you, Nick, you're doing very well. How are you feeling?"

Nick tried to shrug, but ended up swearing instead. "God damm it...better I guess..."

"Well that's good. You've made it very far..."

Kahys voice started to fade and Nick's vision was getting cloudier than before. Suddenly, his entire body went numb. He looked down at his arms and saw they were still shaking, but couldn't feel anything. The blurryness around his field of vision was slowly turning black as his lungs stopped taking in air after one last exhale. He looked over at Warrick, who was staring down at him in horror. He was saying something, but Nick couldn't hear him. Nick focused on Warrick, waiting for his vision to clear and hear what he was saying. His throat and lungs were burning from lack of oxygen, and he couldn't control anything anymore. He kept his eyes on Warrick as he tried to speak, his words strangled and forced. "I'm sorry." He croaked. His eyes slowly started closing, still focused on Warrick. He kept his eyes on his brother, the horror on his brother's face was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed.

**The life **

**The love **

**You'd die to heal **

**The hope that starts **

**The broken hearts**

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. The next chapter should be up in a couple of days. Thanks for all the reviews as well.**


	8. Your Memory

**Back to Chad Kroeger's "Hero" for this chapter.**

* * *

"Nicky! Wake up man...come on, stop messing around..." Warrick pleaded with Nick to open his eyes. _He's just kidding...he's tired and resting, that's all..._ Warrick was snapped from his thoughts when he heard the slow, steady beeps blend into one long one. He looked over at Nick's heart monitor and felt his own heart stop beating when he saw the single, flat line running across the screen. He looked over at Dr. Kahys, who was no longer across the bed from him. He had moved to the closet and grabbed the defibulator paddles. A few nurses, along with Dr. Ralik, ran into the room. Ralik gently pulled Warrick away from Nick. 

"Sir, you're gonna have to step back so we can get to Mr. Stokes, okay?"

Warrick shook his head weakly and allowed Ralik to lead him to the foot of the bed. Warrick kept his eyes on Nick the entire time, unable to tear his eyes away as Dr. Kahys placed the paddles onto Nick's now exposed chest. He still had a lot of cuts and bruises around the large, deep one in the center from where the wooden beam had cracked against him. Warrick couldn't hear what the doctor's were saying or really see who they were. All he could see was Nick's back arch as he was trying to be shocked back to life. Warrick didn't know how many times they did that to him, but he was sure it was too many to count. When they finally stopped, Warrick was almost certain that Nick had died. They all just looked down at him, and he didn't seem to be breathing. Warrick forced himself to look at the monitor, and sighed in relief when he saw the little spikes in the line return. He can barely hear Kahys and Ralik giving instructions to the nurses, but he isn't interested anyway. He snaps out of his trance when Ralik gently puts his hand on his shoulder, causing him to look down at the younger man. He gestures for Warrick to follow him out into the hallway.

"Sir, we-"

"Warrick." He cut him off. "Please, you can call me Warrick."

Ralik nodded. "Okay. Warrick, we're gonna need to run a lot of tests on Mr. Stokes so-"

"Nick."

"On Nick." Ralik smiled easily. "We need to see the extremeties of the damage done and make sure he doesn't have another heart attack. He stopped breathing for quite some time, so brain damage is also a possibility. These tests are going to take a long time, probably around 5 or so hours. While he's being tested, he has to remain in intensive care and can have no visitors." Warrick nodded in understanding. Ralik continued. "You should go home and get some rest, and probably eat something."

Warrick shook his head and started to protest. "I can't...if I leave and he...I promised him I wouldn't..."

"I assure you that you'll be notified right away if Mr...Nick's condition changes in anyway." Warrick still wasn't budging. "You're no good to him if you're wiped out. You can barely stand up you're so tired, and when's the last time you ate something?" Warrick nodded slowly. He had a good point. "Come back in a couple hours, around..." Ralik quickly looked down at his watch and did the math in his head. "9 o'clock. We'll know more by then."

Warrick sighed. "Alright. Thank you very much doctor." Ralik smiled reassuringly before turning and following Kahys down the hall to where Nick had been moved for the tests to be run. He sighed heavily again before turning and leaving the hospital for the first time in over a week. He exited out into the cool Vegas night, thankful it was 4 o'clock in the morning and not in the afternoon. The cold air felt refreshing and the fresh air tasted good. It took him a minute to realize he didn't have a car because he had come with Nick in the ambulance. He pulled out his cell phone to call Catherine, but put it away again and decided to walk. It wasn't a long walk, and he could use to exercise and chance to think. He shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking in the direction of him and Nick's house. He was glad he didn't even think about where he was going, he just let himself go where he needed to. He looked around at the bright lights and unsurprising amount of people still on the streets considering the time. He let his mind wander away from his surroundings and onto the events of the last week.

He remembered some parts of being held hostage more vividly than others. He kept replaying over and over when he had let go of Nick's hand and run in the other direction. Everytime he thought about standing in front of Nick as Sam held the gun against his head he could swear it was happening all over again. He remembered every second of watching Nick pull himself up and break the wooden beam. He remembered the entire ambulance ride and staying with Nick. He just couldn't remember anything he had done to help.

Before he knew it, he had turned onto his street. He replayed Ray holding Nick up against the wall with the gun in his best friend's mouth over in his head as he unlocked the door and stepped inside the dark house. He flicked the lightswitch on and dropped his keys on the small table next to the door. The house being so queit was weird. Him and Nick were usually playing video games or watching a movie. It was only this queit when they were sleeping. He wandered over to the couch and collapsed into it, picking up the remote and flipping through the channels. It took him a few minutes to realize that nothing is on TV at 4:17 a.m.

He got up and went into the bathroom, deciding to take a nice, long, hot shower. He stayed under the hot spray until it was cold before getting out and putting sweatpants and a dark blue t-shirt he was pretty sure he stole from Nick on. He went out into the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking for anything worth trying to eat. The frozen pizza was the only thing that hadn't gone bad yet, so he pulled that out and put it in the oven. He sat on the counter with his head resting against the cabinets for the 20 minutes it took for the pizza to cook. He stared at the picutre of him and Nick on their mantle in the living room that Catherine had given them for Christmas or something last year. They were at Lake Mead for a team party. They were standing on the beach with their sunglasses on, playing catch with an old football. Warrick smiled. He preffered the picture inf front of him now with Nick's dark skin abd broad shoulders over the one he had just left in the hospital. He jumped slightly when the buzzer on the oven went off. He hopped off the counter and took out the pizza. He cut a couple slices and put them on a plate that he put in the freezer for a couple minutes. _Nicky's little tricks really come in handy._

He took the cold plate out and sat down on the couch, taking a few bites of the pizza before he was full. He set the rest of the pizza down on the coffee table before getting up and heading to his room. He stopped when he reached his door, and looked across the hall and into Nick's room. Warrick couldn't remember a single time when either of their doors had been closed the entire time he had been living with him there. He walked away from his own room and into Nick's, not realizing what he was doing until he flicked the light on and looked around. Nick's room was how it always was, neatly unorganized. His bed was never made, and random pairs of jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts were here and there, but his room never looked messy. Warrick smiled at how similar it was to Nick's office. He took one last look around before turning off the light and going into his room, falling into his welcoming bed.

He stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, sleep plaguing his mind and body, but never actually coming. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to clear his head. He pulled his blankets up to his chin and rolled over on to his side, thoughts about what was happening to Nick right now the last thing passing through his mind before he finally fell into a light sleep.

**Someone told me **

**That love would all save us **

**But how could that be?**

**When look what love gave us**

Catherine looked through the thick crowd of people, scanning everyone until she saw Jenn. The attractice, dark brown haired woman was walking towards her carrying a single duffle bag, a sad smile on her lips. She finally reached Catherine, dropping her bag and hugging her as tightly as she could. They stayed like that without saying a word for a few moments before they pulled away.

"Jenn...I'm so sorry this is happening again..." Catherine said through the tears that were now falling from her eyes.

Jenn wiped away her own tears and shook her head. "It's not your fault. He's gonna be okay, I can feel it."

Catherine just matched her sad smile, praying she was right. Her cell phone rang and her heart rate increased when she saw the hospital's caller ID displayed across the screen.

"Hello?" She answered. She looked up and Jenn as her mouth hung open, listening to Dr. Kahys on the other line. She nodded slowly after a few moments before finally responding. "Okay...l-let us know..." She slowly closed her phone. "He...stopped breathing for a few minutes but they brought him back...they're running tests on him right now..."

Jenn choked back a sob. She nodded slowly. "Do they know anything?"

Catherine shook her head. "Not yet, but they will soon...come on, let's get you back to my house so you can get some rest."

Jenn followed Catherine out to her car and threw her bag in the backseat before getting into the passenger seat. They rode in silence all the way back to Catherine's house. Jenn let Catherine take her bag into the guest room. Catherine made some coffee for them to drink while they sat in the living room. She was relieved when Jenn finally broke the silence.

Jenn smiled as she recalled a memory from her and Nick's childhood. "When we were younger, we had this horse that used to kick and bite everyone except Nick for some reason. It was a real pain the ass, and after it almost hurt one of our friend's my dad decided we had to put it down because it was such a hazard or something. The night he told us that, Nick snuck out to the stables and took it out, riding it out all the way to the pasture that had to have been 3 miles away, and let it go. He came back inside when I was downstairs getting a drink. He was only...no older than 10." She smiled wider. "My dad still to this day has to idea what happened to that horse."

Catherine smiled as well. Nick had always been willing to help others, no matter what the consquences were to him. It's what made him such a good CSI and friend. She knew in her heart that if there was truly any justice left in the world, Nick would make it out of this.

**A world full killing **

**And blood spilling **

**That world never came**

_Warrick watched Nick's blood soaked body lay on the cold floor in front of him. The bruises and cuts covered his entire chest and face. His head slowly rolled to the side, his eyes only half open. He mouthed the words "I'm sorry." before his eyes closed._

_Warrick looked down at his hands and shirt that were covered in blood. He tried to wipe it off, but it wouldn't go away. He closed his eyes, but he kept seeing Nick lying there, covered in blood. He screamed, trying to make it go away. It was instead replaced by the image of Nick surrounded by the green glow, screaming his lungs out for someone to help him. Then Nick was falling backwards out of a window, down into the bushes below. Warrick squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could, but the picture of Nick lying motionless in the hospital bed wouldn't subside. **I lost Nicky...I really did...** _

Warrick woke with a start and sat upright, almost falling out of his bed in the process. He looked around frantically, calming when he realized where he was. He quickly got up and ran into Nick's room, his heart sinking when he remembered he wasn't there. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before looking at the red glow of the numbers on Nick's alarm clock. 9:02 a.m. Ralik said to come back at 9... Warrick thought to himself. He went back into his room and quickly changed into a clean pair of jeans, leaving Nick's t-shirt on. He went into the kitchen and turned the coffee maker on, letting his cup fill as he tied his shoes. He grabbed his cup when his coffee was done and grabbed his keys, locking the door on his way out. He got into the Denali in the driveway, wether it was his or Nick's was always up for debate.

He tried to take his time driving to the hospital so he wouldn't get into an accident or get there before the doctors knew anything else. His coffee was long gone by the time he spotted Dr. Kahys and Ralik leaving the room Nick had been moved to. They saw him before he saw them, so they were almost in front of him by the time he realized it.

Dr. Kahys extended his hand and Warrick shook it weakly. "Good to see you got some rest."

Warrick shook Ralik's hand before asking, "So how's Nick?"

Ralik turned to Kahys, letting the older doctor answer the question. "When he stopped breathing, the lack of oxygen caused brain damage to an extent we can't be sure of until he wakes up again, which should be very soon. As far as everything else goes, he's gotten better over the last couple of hours. His condition has improved, and we should know a lot more when he wakes up." Warrick sighed with relief.

A nurse poked her head out of Nick's new room. "Dr. Kahys...Mr. Stokes is waking up."

Warrick jumped with excitement and looked hopefully at Kahys. "You can go in and see him, but you need to stay back while we check on him quickly." Warrick nodded in understanding. "Also..." Kahys continued hesitantly, "There is a chance of short term memory loss because of the lack of oxygen he sustained ealier. Situations like these can be very difficult, just to give you a heads up."

Warrick nodded once before following Ralik and Kahys into Nick's room. Hope overtook his heart and mind when he saw how much better Nick looked. Some color had returned to his skin, and he wasn't shaking. Warrick slowly walked over to the left side of the bed and stood 3 feet or so away from Nick. He restrained himself from running over to him when Nick's eyes opened and he slowly looked around.

Kahys was to Nick's right next to Ralik, and two nurses were checking Nick's vitals. "Mr. Stokes, do you know where you are?" Kahys asked.

Nick nodded slowly as he took in his surroundings. "In...a hospital." He said softly.

Kahys smiled. "Yes. I'm Dr. Kahys, and I'm going to ask you a few questions you have to try and answer, okay?" Nick nodded once. "Do you know what year it is?"

"2006." Nick's voice was raspy and quiet, but that didn't matter. He was awake and doing better.

"What state do you live in?"

"Nevada." Nick said, seemingly unsure of why he was being asked such easy questions.

"Who is the President of the United States?" Kahys asked.

"Gil Grissom." Nick said, then frowned. "No...wait...George Bush." He corrected himself. Warrick couldn't help but smile as Nick answered a few more questions.

Kahys tentatively looked from Warrick and back to Nick, hesitating to ask the next question for fear of what would happen. "Mr. Stokes...do you recognize the man standing over there, to your left?" He said, pointing over to Warrick.

Nick turned his head and looked at Warrick, and the look in his eyes turned Warrick's heart to stone. Nick stared at him for a couple of seconds before slowly shaking his head. "No...I don't know who that is..." He said softly.

Warrick's heart jumped into his throat. _What? Why doesn't he know who I am? He remembers Grissom and not me? What the hell..._

Kahys was asking Nick a few more questions, but Warrick didn't stick around to listen. He quickly left the room and made it to the bathroom just as he got sick to his stomach. He took several deep breaths before slowly standing and splashing cold water on his face. He wiped his face dry with a paper towel before stumbling out into the waiting room and falling into a chair. His entire body felt like jell-o. He closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands, not looking up when he heard someone sit down next to him.

"I'm sorry." He recognized the voice as Dr. Ralik's. "If it helps any, the memory loss is only temporary."

Warrick sighed and he looked at the young doctor that reminded him of Nick. "It actually does, thanks."

They were joined by Dr. Kahys, who had a solemn expression on his face. He stood in front of the two younger men sitting down, looking down at Warrick. "We gave Mr. Stokes another dosage of morphine for the pain, but he got violently sick to his stomach. His condition has improved a tremendous amount, but I'm afraid he may be to weak to fully recover."

Warrick nodded slowly. He hated himself for the fact that he was starting to get used to bad news. "How long until he remembers who I am?"

Kahys sighed. "That's hard to tell. He's fallen back asleep, and I'd say that by the time he wakes up he should be back to normal memory wise. If he gets a recuperative enough sleep, he may very well make a full recovery."

"I can stay with him, right?"

Kahys shook his head and started to say something, but Ralik stood and cut the older man off. "Of course you can. Just let him rest, okay?"

Warrick stood next to them and shook their hands again. "Of course. Thank you very much." He left before Kahys had a chance for a rebuttle. He quickly went into Nick's room, but stopped once he was inside. He took a few deep breaths before grabbing a chair from the other side of the room and pulling it up to his spot next to Nick. He sat down slowly and somehow managed to stop his hands from shaking as he took Nick's in his once again.

"I don't care if you remember me or not, bro. I'm still here."

**And they say that a hero can save us **

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait **

**I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles **

**Watch as we all fly away**


	9. Not So Unexpected

**Song in this one is "Savin Me" by Nickelback. Sorry it's so much shorter than the last few have been.**

* * *

"Gil, did you get those papers done yet?" Ecklie asked in his usual pissed off tone. 

Grissom gritted his teeth to keep from getting too worked up. "No, Conrad, I didn't. Nick's conditon has been going up and down these last few days, so my mind's been elsewhere. I'll have them done soon."

"About Nick...I've been meaning to talk to you about him." Ecklie entered Grissom's office and took a seat.

Grissom leaned back against his chair and took his glasses off so he could rub his tired eyes. "What about Nick?" He said, looking back up at Ecklie.

"I think we should think about getting a replacement for him soon." Ecklie was right to the point, no fluff needed.

"You mean for until he comes back of course." Grissom said, tilting his head a little.

Ecklie sighed. "No, I mean replacement, as in permanent. I've gotten my own reports from the hospital, he's not doing so well. We need to have someone for when-" Grissom's head snapped up and he glared at Ecklie, causing him to reiterate. "If...he doesn't make it. And even if he does, he may not be able to return to work soon or at all."

There were several things Grissom wanted to say, but all of them would result in him losing his job, so he nodded slowly as he collected his thoughts. "Okay...I guess I can see where your head is in this...but once again, no heart...I'm sorry to tell you this Conrad, but Nick Stokes cannot be replaced."

Ecklie rubbed his chin for a second, staring thoughtfully at the floor before looking back up at Grissom. "I was thinkning more of...letting him go..."

Grissom laughed. "Are you kidding me? He's the one of the best criminalists we have!"

Ecklie nodded slightly, but didn't seem to agree. "He's decent...but with everything that's happened, keeping him around would only-"

"Finish that sentence, I dare you." Grissom looked past Ecklie, who had turned to see who had interrupted their private conversation. Greg stood in the doorway, his jaw set and arms crossed across his chest.

"Excuse me, Sanders, but this is no place for-"

Greg cut the older man off again. "Nick goes, I go."

Grissom's mouth hung open in shock, then turned into a smile. Sara appeared behind Greg, as well as Archie and Hodges. "What's going on?" Archie said as they all took the liberty of letting themselves into Grissom's office, joining in on the little pow-wow.

"Ecklie wants to fire Nick." Greg said, glaring at Ecklie.

"What? Why?" Came Catheirne's voice from behind Hodges, but she made her way to the front and stood next to Greg.

"Excuse me, but this is a private conversation."

Grissom shrugged. "Anything you have to say about Nick, you can say to his team."

Ecklie sighed. "I just think it would be best if we let him go..."

Everyone shook their heads. "I'm not saying me and Stokes are best friends...but that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Hodges said with a laugh.

"Like I said, he goes, I go." Greg said defiantly.

"Me too." Catherine added, nodding.

"Me too." Sara said, moving to stand next to Catherine.

"Aye Aye Captain." Archie said from the back, raising his hand so his presence could be noted.

"Ditto." Hodges added, shoving his hands into his pockets and smiling.

"We don't even have to call Warrick...that's just a given." Greg said, smiling cockily at Ecklie.

Ecklie's jaw hung open and his brow was furrowed into a deep frown. He shook his head as he turned to the supervisor of the nightshift. "Grissom, are you just gonna sit there?"

Grissom sighed and shook his head. He got up and stood in front of his team and techs, facing them as he said, "No..." He then turned to Ecklie. "I'm with them." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and smiled that Grissom smile. He turned on his heel and walked out of his own office for affect, followed by everyone else, leaving Ecklie sitting in shock.

**Prison gates won't open up for me **

**On these hands and knees I'm crawling **

**Oh I reach for you**

Warrick nearly jumped out of his seat when Dr. Ralik walked in. He smiled apologetically as he walked over and stood next to Warrick, who remained seated and holding Nick's hand. He looked up at the doctor, waiting for him to speak.

"All of the test results on Nick came back better than expected. His blood pressure and heart rate decreased, greatly reducing the threat of another heart attack. He's breathing on his own now, and there's not a lot of strain on his lungs even though his windpipe has decreased to less than half it's normal size. As for his muscle weakness, all this sleep he's getting should help, and I'll be able to tell you for sure when he wake up and see how he's feeling when he can go home."

Warrick's tired eyes were now wide open, and he could hear his heart beating in his ears. _Did he just say...**go home?**_ "Wait...what?" He asked, wanting to be sure of what he thought he heard.

Ralik smiled widely. "Nick's gonna be okay. It's gonna take some time, but he's gonna make it."

Warrick momentarily released his grip on Nick's hand and stood, shaking Ralik's hand vigorously. "Thank you so much...for everything...Kahys too...I can't thank you enough for what you've done for him."

"My pleasure." Ralik said. "Just let me or Dr. Kahys know when he wakes up, alright?"

"Will do." Warrick said, sitting back down as Ralik left quietly. A wide smile was across his face as he took Nick's hand back into his, squeezing gently. "Hear that man? You're gonna be okay." Tears were falling from his eyes again, but he didn't care. They were tears of joy._ Nick's gonna be okay._ "I knew you could do this Nicky...I'm sorry you had to...but everything's gonna be okay, I promise." Warrick fell silent as he sat next to his brother, anxiously waiting for him to wake up.

**Well I'm terrified of these four walls **

**These iron bars can't hold my soul in **

**All I need is you**

"Still no news on that CSI, Jimmy."

Jimmy put his glass of Scotch down and looked at Dan, standing on the other side of the large oak desk from him. "Alright. Means he ain't dead yet. Have our guy find out if and when he goes home. Sam couldn't get it done, so I will."

Dan nodded. "Our uh...guy...he found out that the cops didn't kill Ray."

Jimmy nodded slowly, thinking over what Dan had just told him before asking the question he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to. "Who did?"

Dan was swaying on his feet, he hated to the bearer of bad news. "That CSI guy...Nick Stokes."

Jimmy nodded once. "And what about the other two? Wasn't there three hostages?"

"Yeah." Dan said. "They got out though, didn't go to the hospital. Case is closed though cuz all of the suspects are dead."

"Alright, that's good. They think it's over, we now have the element of surprise. Make sure Frankie's ready for whenever we need him. We're gonna have to do what Sam couldn't."

**Come please I'm calling **

**And oh I scream for you **

**Hurry I'm falling**

All Warrick could do was smile wider when Nick slowly opened his eyes. He yawned and reached a shaky hand up and ran it through is hair. He looked to his left and jumped slightly when he saw Warrick. He frowned in confusion as he looked around, taking a few minutes to process where he was and why. He took the deepest breath he had in over a week before looking back at Warrick and smiling slightly.

"So it wasn't a dream..." He said quietly.

Warrick shook his head. "No...I wish..." He was relieved that Nick knew who he was and was aware of what had happened. "How are you feeling?"

Nick thought for a second before answering. "Good, I guess. It still hurts...but not as bad. I can move, so that's a plus."

Warrick laughed slightly. "Yeah, that's good." He looked down at the floor, trying to avoid Nick's eyes. He still felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how Nick looked when he said he didn't remember him. He tried to clear it from his head, but couldn't. He forced himself to think about what was happening now. _Nick's alive and is going to stay that way for a while._

Nick was starting to become more attuned to his senses. His chest and back ahced more than before, and he looked down at his exposed chest, bearing two equal sized red marks. "What the..." Then he understood what they were from. "Oh..." He looked up at Warrick. "I died again, didn't I?"

Warrick nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

Nick smiled, but it was obviously fake, it quickly faded and was replaced by a frown. "You weren't there...were you?"

"Yeah, I was." Warrick said.

Nick closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...I just want it to stop."

Warrick bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood to keep himself from crying. "I know Nicky...don't be sorry, it's not your fault."

Nick laughed sarcastically. "You never let anything be my fault."

Warrick smiled softly. "Because nothing is, genius."

Nick smiled a true Nick Stokes' smile. "You're such a tool." He teased playfully.

"What can I say...you rub off on me man."

Nick didn't have time for a comeback, which he was thankfull for because he didn't have one. Dr. Kahys walked in, followed by Dr. Ralik, both men smiling. Dr. Kahys walked up to the left side of Nick's bed and gently shook his hand. "Good to see you're awake again, Nick. How are you feeling?" Nick just smiled and nodded slightly. "I'm pleased to tell you that your condition has greatly improved in the last 36 hours. However, I think it's time we talked about the long-term affects of this ordeal."

Nick sighed. "Yeah, I was expecting that."

Dr. Ralik picked up where Kahys left off. "The extent of your injuries is something I have personally never seen before. Your broken ribs and crushed windpipe is going to make breathing difficult, but you'll get used to it after a while. Due to the fact that you...uhhh...died...a number of times, you're going to be very weak for the next couple of weeks, but will slowly regain strength."

Nick smiled. "Well that sounds good."

Ralik nodded. "You'll be able to go home in a few days, but only if you promise to rest. And by rest, I mean on the couch watching tv or sleeping. That's it. You need to completely regain your strength before you can start getting your mucsles to work properly again. I'm afraid physical therapy won't do much more for you than walking around the block when you're able to. No physical acitivty whatsoever, anything that ups your heart and breathing rate isn't a good idea at all." He turned to Warrick. "There's still a chance of slight brain damage as well as lung and heart complications...he can't, under any circumstances, be left alone at all."

Warrick nodded. "Sure thing Doc."

"Okay. Nick, rest up, and we'll see if we can't get you out of here by the end of the week."

Nick smiled and weakly shook both doctors hands, followed by Warrick doing the same. "Thank you very much for everything." Nick said before both doctors left. He sighed contently and let himself sink back against his pillows, turning his head slightly so he could look at Warrick. "Thanks for not giving up on me." He said with a small smile.

Warrick shrugged and returned the smile. "Don't worry about it. I think it's in my job description somewhere anway."

**Show me what it's like **

**To be the last one standing **

**And teach me wrong from right **

**And I'll show you what I can be **

**Say it for me, say it to me **

**And I'll leave this life behind me **

**Say it if it's worth saving me**

* * *

**Sorry the last few chapters have been pretty much the same with Nick being in the hospital. I promise the action's going to pick up again. Reviews are always appreciated, as well as any ideas you guys might have on anything.**


	10. Superman

**The action picks up again in this chapter, I know the others have been boring, sorry. Song is Five For Fighting's "Superman."**

* * *

Nick collapsed onto the couch as soon as he got inside, and sighed happily as he stretched out and got comfortable. Warrick chuckled and walked past him into the kitchen, calling back to Nick.

"You hungry?" He asked as he opened the fridge.

"Yeah." Nick replied. "I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten anything in 2 weeks, food sounds good."

To Warrick's dismay, there was nothing in the fridge or cabinets that was appealing, so he went back into the living room and sat down in the recliner. "Well, we're gonna have to order pizza or something, cuz we have no food."

Nick smiled. "When do we ever have food?" He said.

"Good point." Warrick said with a laugh. He picked up the clicker and flicked the TV on, flipping through channels until he found a football game. "Cowboys are on." He said to Nick, who had closed his eyes.

"I hate TO...I half want them to lose every game so he'll whine and get traded far, far away."

Warrick laughed. "A true fan." He said, shaking his head at Nick even though his eyes were closed. "So what do you want to eat?"

Nick shrugged and opened his eyes. "I don't care as long as it's food."

"I was thinking pizza too." Warrick said as he got up and grabbed the phone, ordering the pizza expertly. He returned back to his chair and they watched the game for a few minutes before Warrick remembered what else he had to do when they got home other than order food. "Shit..." He swore under his breath.

"What?" Nick asked.

"I forgot to call Catherine...she's gonna be pissed."

Nick smiled. "Just tell her we just got in."

Warrick nodded, but looked doubtful. "Knowing her, she'll know I'm lying and probably knows the exact second we got here. Better late then never." He took out his cell phone and pushed 2 on his speed dial, and wasn't surprised when the phone rang just once. He pushed the speaker button and set the phone on the end table.

"It's about damn time." Catherine answered.

"Hi honey." Warrick said sarcastically.

"You guys are home, right?" She said, ignoring Warrick's sarcasm.

"Yepp. Just got in." Warrick said, making Nick laugh.

"Hey Nicky!" Catherine said when she heard the familiar laugh. "How are you feeling?"

"Good." Nick asnwered.

"Good, Jenn's dying to see you."

Nick looked at Warrick, trying to pretend to be mad, but the smile tugging at his lips gave him away. "Jenn's here?"

Warrick swore under his breath again. "Forgot that too...it's been a long couple of weeks man." He said, rubbing his eyes.

Nick gave in to the smile and let out a soft laugh. "Well we just ordered pizza, so come on over."

"So you order pizza before you call us?" Catherine said in mock-annoyance.

"We're just guys." Nick and Warrick said in unison.

Catherine sighed for affect. "Okay, we'll be there soon." She said before hanging up.

Nick laughed before closing his eyes again and crossing his arms behind his head.

"So you're really feeling better?" Warrick asked.

Nick nodded, moving as little as possible. "Yeah. Everything still hurts...but I think it's just because I'm so sore and tired." He fell silent for a few minutes, and Warrick thought he had fallen asleep, but he opened his eyes, sat up slowly and looked over at him. "Why didn't I die?" Warrick wasn't sure how to answer the question, because he didn't know exactly what Nick meant. When he didn't answer, Nick took the hint and tried to explain himself. "I mean...I did die...a few times...but why didn't I die, for good? I just got better...I know I wasn't doing too good...it just doesn't make any sense."

Warrick shook his head. "I don't know buddy...but I don't care why as long as you're okay." Warrick smiled slightly and shrugged. "I guess you really can't kill heroes."

Nick smiled weakly. "You would have done the same for me."

Warrick smiled wider and stood when he heard the doorbell ring. "Doesn't matter bro." He said, walking over to the door. "You're still my hero." He said before he opened the door and laughed when he saw Catherine standing on the other side, holding their pizza.

"You owe me 15 bucks." She said, handing Warrick the pizza and kissing him on the cheek as she let herself in.

Nick hadn't even seen it coming. He had no time to react, all he could do was lay there.

Jenn practically ran into the house and threw herself at her little brother. Nick fell back against the back of the couch, wincing in pain and smiling at the same time.

"Son of a...hi Jenn." He said, slowly returning his older sister's bear hug.

Jenn reluctantly pulled away and sat next to Nick, tears threatening to fall from her dark brown eyes. "Thank God you're okay...never, ever scare me like that ever again Nick." She said.

Nick couldn't help the smile from spreading across his face. "Okay, I'll try not to get held hostage again."

Jenn punched him on the shoulder. "That's not funny. You scared the hell out of me!"

Nick flinched. "Owe...be nice. I'm alive, but everything still hurts like a bitch." He rubbed his shoulder a few times before turning to Catherine, standing as she came in front of him and threw her arms around his neck, giving in to the tears that had been building up over the last 2 weeks Nick was in the hospital.

"I'm so sorry Nicky...thank you so much for-"

Nick shook his head and wrapped his arms around Catherine's waist, laughing softly. "Don't be sorry for anything, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was, you didn't have to do wh-"

Nick cut her off again. "I know, I wanted to. There's no reason to be sorry or thank me." He slowly pulled away and put his hands on Catherine's shoulders, looking into her eyes. "I'm fine, you're fine, and Warrick's fine. Everything's fine. Nothing else matters. Okay?"

Catherine nodded and smiled slightly, wiping away her tears. "Okay. Thank you anyway." She said, silencing him by kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Alright. Now can we eat? I'm starving." He said, turning to Warrick, who was still holding the pizza.

"Waiting on you, man." Warrick said. He walked in to the kitchen, followed by Nick, Catherine and Jenn. The girls sat down at the small kitchen table as Nick and Warrick grabbed some plates from the dishwasher and sodas from the cooler on the deck. They joined Jenn and Catherine at the table, handing out the plates and drinks. They all grabbed a piece of pizza and began eating. They talked about everything other than what had happened. After about an hour or so of this, Catherine had to go back to work and Jenn needed to go pick up Lindsey and make dinner for her.

As Catherine was leaving, she turned back to Warrick. "Grissoms says you're on paid leave as long as he is." She said, nodding towards Nick.

"I guess...if that's what Grissom wants..." Warrick said sarcastically.

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Make sure he gets rest and doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'm right here." Nick said, waving his arms.

Catherine turned towards the other man. "Fine. Don't do anything stupid and get better." She smiled and quickly kissed Warrick before leaving with Jenn.

Nick fell back onto the couch and sighed. He ran his hand through his hair and clenched his fists when he started shaking slightly.

Warrick sat down next to him. "You alright?" He asked, putting his hand on Nick's shoulder and squeezing gently.

Nick nodded and smiled weakly. "Yeah, just really tired." Warrick nodded in response. Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He closed his eyes and leaned back into the couch. "Have you ever wanted to be somebody else?" He asked quietly, his eyes still closed.

Warrick smiled despite the fact that Nick couldn't see him. "Yeah." He said, then paused for a second before adding, "You."

**I can't stand to fly**

**I'm not that naive**

**I'm just out to find**

**The better part of me**

"He's home." Dan said simply into his cell phone.

Jimmy nodded and smiled slightly. "All right…give him some time to think he's safe before we do anything. You talk to Frankie yet?"

"Yeah, he's all set and waiting on you."

"Good." Jimmy closed his cell phone, leaned back in his oversized chair, and took a long drag of his cigar. His smile grew as he thought about what was in store for his new found hate. Nick Stokes.

**I'm more than a bird**

**I'm more than a plane**

**I'm more than some pretty face beside a train**

**And it's not easy to be me**

Nick was starting to enjoy just laying around and watching random things on TV with Warrick. They had even invented a new game. Seeing as how nothing good was on daytime TV, they put on Spanish Soap Operas and made up their own story lines. It was a lot more fun than it sounds.

Nick let another yawn escape as he slowly stood and stretched. He was still unbelievably sore, but the painkillers were working somewhat. He was having a very difficult time sleeping, as always. He looked at the clock and sighed. 11:23 p.m. It had only been a few hours since he had pretended to go to bed. He knew Warrick was fast asleep in his room and refused to go and wake him up just because he couldn't sleep again. He felt he had done that far too many times. Deep down he knew Warrick didn't care at all, but Nick did. He hated feeling so helpless and needy.

Nick slowly walked into the dark kitchen and grabbed the large bottle of painkillers. "Take 1 pill 3 times a day…or as needed." He shrugged. "I am so taking advantage of the 'as needed' part." He tipped the bottle and let 3 pills fall onto his palm. He grabbed a glass off of the counter and filled it halfway with water, taking all 3 pills at once. He'd gotten used to doing that by now. He poured the rest of the water out and turned to go back into the living room when something cold and hard pressed against the back of his neck.

"I want you to turn around very, very slowly with your hands in the air."

The voice wad deep and sinister. Nick frowned in confusion. His tired mind couldn't grasp what was happening, so he complied with what whoever was behind him told him to do. He painfully raised his sore arms and turned slowly to his left, his heart dropping when he saw the taller man standing in front of him with a gun pointed straight between his eyes.

"Good boy." The guy was a few inches taller than Nick and had bright blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt under a large leather jacket.

"No mask?" Nick asked, his voice steadier than his heartbeat.

"No need." The man took a step forward, shoving the gun into Nick's mouth. _Why do bad guys think this is so cool?_ The barrel pressed against the back of his throat, almost making him gag. "Do you know who I am?"

There was no possible way for Nick to speak, so he just shook his head slowly. His hands were still raised. He winced as he was forced against the counter behind him, the hard wood digging into his back. The man took a handful of Nick's faded blue t-shirt in his hand, pushing his fist into Nick's chest. Nick clenched his fists to try and make the pain go away.

"I'm Dan…I work for Big Jimmy." Nick blinked. _And that's supposed to mean something to me?_ "Ray, Sam and Jake worked for Big Jimmy. Ray's his kid brother, and you killed him."

_Oh_. Nick thought._ Fuck._

Dan ripped off Nick's sleeve and reached behind him, turning the faucet on._ Is he gonna do my dishes?_

After a few minutes of an intense staring contest, Nick felt hot water on his back. He tried to look behind him, but was restricted by the gun in his mouth.

Dan smiled wickedly. "Goodbye, Nick." He punched Nick in the face with his right hand, sending Nick slightly off balance and to the right. He grabbed the back of his neck and forced his head under the hot water that had built up in the sink. He felt the barrel of the gun press against the back of his head, pinning his face between the gun and the bottom of the sink. He closed his eyes and mouth, wondering how long it would take him to drown. He tried to push against the counter or punch Dan away, but it was no use. He was too weak. There wasn't anything he could do.

His lungs were burning and he thought his heart was going to burst through his ribs. He started to slump against the counter as the life started draining from his body. _Only a few more seconds, then it's all over._

Just as he was about to pass out, he heard 2 gun shots that were muffled by the water that filled his ears. _So someone finally did pull the trigger_, he thought. _Wait…wouldn't I have only heard one, if any at all?_

The weight that was pressing him into the counter was now gone, as was the pressure of the gun to his head. He slowly started to sink to the ground, his head hitting the counter as he fell back onto the floor.

He gasped for air as droplets of water fell from his hair and face, collecting in a pool around his head. His chest was heaving, and he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could. He felt the warm blood flowing down the side of his face from the cut just above his eyebrow from when he hit the counter, running down his neck and mixing with the water on the floor.

"Nicky…Nicky, wake up man." Warrick kneeled in the water next to Nick and shook his shoulders gently.

Nick slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times until the water stopped blurring his vision. He looked up at Warrick and smiled weakly.

"You alright man?" Warrick asked, his voice filled with concern.

Nick nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said softly. "Did you-"

"Yeah." Warrick cut him off.

"Thanks." Nick said weakly.

Warrick didn't have a chance to respond. The door suddenly slammed open and a larger man came in, pointing a gun at them.

Warrick reached for his, but it was on the counter, out of reach.

"Don't try anything stupid. I'm gonna have to ask you to come with me."

Warrick looked at Nick, who stared up guiltily. Warrick helped Nick to his feet before slowly walking towards the door.

"Jimmy's not gonna be happy with you two." The man was wearing the same thing as Dan, who now lay dead on the kitchen floor. They allowed the man, Frankie, to force them into a waiting car outside of their house. They got into the back, sitting across from yet another larger man.

"Ah, we finally meet." The man said. "I'm Big Jimmy."

**I wish that I could cry**

**Fall upon my knees**

**Find a way to lie**

**About a home I'll never see**

**It may sound absurd**

**But don't be naive**

**Even heroes have the right to bleed**

**I may be disturbed**

**But wont you conceive**

**Even heroes have the right to dream**

**And it's not easy to be me**

* * *

**Hope you liked it. Next chapter's about halfway done, should be up soon. Reviews always welcome.**


	11. Reason

**Back to "Hero" for this chapter. Sorry I've been being mean, it gets better. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Nick felt like the air had been punched from his lungs. _This is not happening…_

Warrick didn't understand as much as Nick did. "Who?" He asked.

Jimmy laughed. "Sam, Jake and Ray worked for me. The guy you just killed, Dan, worked for me too. The guy who pulled you outta the house and is now driving, that would be Frankie. Works for me. I'm the boss of it all boys."

Warrick looked over at Nick, who was still trying to breathe. The cut on his forehead looked worse than it actually was, or at least that's what Warrick was hoping.

"So, ya see…I don't like it when my guys mess up and get themselves killed, but I can deal with it, happens all the time I guess. But when you go after my family, that's a different story."

Warrick was confused again. "What are you talking about?"

Nick finally caught his breath. "I killed his brother…Ray was his little brother." He said quietly.

Jimmy nodded. "That's right, and now you're gonna pay for that."

"We didn't go after your family…they held us hostage, we didn't-"

Nick cut Warrick off. "_We _didn't do anything. _I_ killed your brother, so why does he have to be here?" He said, motioning towards Warrick.

"He killed Dan, didn't he?" Jimmy said simply.

Nick didn't give Warrick anytime to speak. "No, I did." When Warrick tried to protest, Nick punched him as hard as he could in the shoulder, but it wasn't painful in the least to Warrick.

"How the hell could you shoot him if your head was underwater?" Warrick said to Nick before turning back to Jimmy. "He's obviously lying, he-"

"No I'm not." Nick cut him off again.

"Enough!" Jimmy said, starting to get angry. "You're both here now, and you're both staying here." He smiled evilly. "You're best friends, right?" Nick and Warrick nodded slowly. "Good. Now you can die together."

**I am so high**

**I can hear heaven**

Jenn was starting to get worried. She had already called Nick's cell phone 3 times and the house twice. Catherine said Warrick wasn't answering, either. She had gone to the lab with Catherine to see if the guys were there for some reason.

"No, why would they be?" Grissom asked, the confusion and worry on the women's faces reflecting onto his.

"I don't know…we should just go over there and see if they're okay." Catherine said.

"Wait…Catherine." Grissom said, holding her back gently. "Maybe you shouldn't go…I'll send Brass over."

"Why, I'm sure…" Catherine's voice trailed off. "Yeah…maybe you should…"

**But heaven**

**No heaven don't hear me**

The car finally came to a stop outside of an old house. There were plenty of other houses around, but none of them had been occupied for at least 20 years. Nick and Warrick were pushed into the house and up creaky stairs into the attic. It was dark and cold. The floor was covered in dirt and dust, and didn't feel too sturdy. They were forced against the back wall, standing side by side in front of the gun in Frankie's hand.

Jimmy stepped up behind him, taking the gun from him. "Go watch out for cops, I can handle this." Frankie did as he was told, disappearing back down the old stairs.

The bottom of Nick's jeans were now coated in dust, his socks turned a dark brown. Warrick's black sweatpants looked the same, the dust showing just how old this house actually was.

"I like it here." Jimmy said, looking around. "Quiet…secluded…no one will ever find you here." He said with a smile.

Warrick laughed. "Yeah, right."

"That funny to you?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, kinda." Nick said, smiling. "Our team will find us, then they'll find you. No matter where you go or what you do, they'll find you."

Jimmy snorted. "I highly doubt that kid." He said. "Now, I've been waiting for this…so who wants to go first?" He asked.

"You." Warrick said, turning towards Nick.

"Why me?" Nick asked.

"This is all your fault, duh." Warrick said.

"Oh really? Well you got yourself into this."

"How? By saving you?"

"I guess so. Think next time."

"Yeah, like that matters now."

They continued on with their arguing, each getting a few shoves in. "Hey, stop it!" Jimmy said. "I'm warning you right now to cut it out." They totally ignored him.

"You said yourself I shouldn't even be here!" Warrick yelled.

"Well you are, so why not be a man and get it over with?" Nick yelled back, pushing Warrick.

"I said knock it off!" Jimmy yelled at them, taking a couple steps towards them to break it up. As soon as he was close enough, Nick and Warrick lunged. Warrick grabbed Jimmy's hand that was holding the gun and Nick kneed him in the stomach. As Jimmy started to fall to the floor, he wrapped one of his arms around Nick's waist, bringing him down with him. Just before he hit the floor, Nick heard a gunshot, then a loud crack as the floor gave out under his and Jimmy's weight falling onto it.

Nick barely managed to grab on to the edge of the large hole that was now in the attic floor. Splinters of wood cut into his hands, making it harder to hold on. _Don't look down…don't look down…_

Nick looked down and saw Jimmy 20 feet below him, lying on his back, a pool of blood around his head. He didn't appear to have any other injuries. _Okay…so he wasn't shot…_ Nick looked back up, trying to see over the floor he was hanging on to. _That means…Oh God…_ Nick closed his eyes, the pain he know felt in his heart worse than the one in his hands and arms. _I fucked everything up again…_

Nick tried to pull himself up, but it was no use. He listened for a minute for any movement above him, but heard none. He took a deep, shaky breath as his hands started slipping from the floor, more slivers stabbing into his hands.

"I'm sorry Warrick…" He whispered as his fingertips slipped off the edge.

**And they say that a hero can save us**

**I'm not gonna stand here and wait**

Brass knocked on the door as hard as he could. After a few seconds of silence, he drew his gun and nodded to his men standing behind him. To their surprise, the door was unlocked. The guy to Brass' left threw the door open, allowing the men behind him to enter. Brass was the last one through the door.

He felt his panic leaving as he heard each room be cleared. He was calming down, until he saw the blood on the kitchen floor. He tried to tell himself it was from the nearby body, but the blood smear on the counter and separate blod pools told him otherwise.

He fought back the fear and called Grissom, briefing him on what they had found, which wasn't much. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

**I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles**

**Watch as we all fly away**

Nick closed his eyes when he felt the wood slip from under his fingers. His heart started rising into his throat, but stopped abruptly. His body jerked upwards, his left shoulder painfully popping out of its socket. He was confused, but didn't want to open his eyes. His shoulders and wrists started to ache, reminding him of when he was handcuffed to the beam above the floor in the warehouse.

He gritted his teeth against the pain and opened his eyes. He was still hanging above the floor below. Frowning, he looked up to see what he was suspended from.

His eyes met with Warrick's, who was lying on his stomach, arms over the edge, clasped onto Nick's wrists. He smiled slightly.

"I gotcha bro." He said quietly.

Nick let out the breath he had been holding since the floor had caved in. He tried again to pull himself up, but was stopped by Warrick's voice.

"Relax man, I'll get you up." He slowly started pulling Nick up until his hands were against his chest, then rose to his knees, bringing Nick's chest over the edge. Warrick leaned back slowly until his back hit the floor, pulling Nick's waist through the hole and next to him. They laid there for a minute, catching their breath.

"Thanks Warrick." Nick said breathlessly.

Warrick smiled and shrugged. "Don't mention it." He slowly sat up with Nick, noticing his dislocated shoulder. "Want me to pop that back in man?" Nick just nodded. Warrick gently placed one hand on the back of Nick's shoulder and the other on his forearm. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Nick said, looking away.

Warrick quickly lifted Nick's arm up until he felt his shoulder pop back in, causing Nick to flinch. "You okay?" Warrick asked.

Nick nodded. "Yeah...Now how about we get out of here?"

Warrick shook his head in agreement. "Good idea…but what about the other guy?"

Nick swore under his breath. "Damn it…I forgot about him…"

As if on cue, Frankie came bursting through the door, the noise from a few minutes ago drawing his attention away from watching for cops.

They heard him swear quietly when he saw Jimmy, both CSIs peering over the edge of the hole. Frankie looked up and saw them, quickly drawing his gun.

Warrick reached to his left instinctively, putting his forearm across Nick's chest and pulling him back and down so he was flat against the floor and his legs slipped over the edge of the hole in the floor.

Two bullets ripped just above Warrick's arm, flying through the wall behind them.

Nick nodded once. "Yeah, time to go."

They scrambled to their feet, looking around frantically for any way to escape. When they came up with nothing, Warrick came up with an idea.

"I have an idea…" He said, looking over at the door that lead to the stairs they could hear Frankie running up.

"Oh man."

"Shut up." Warrick said, pulling Nick over to the door. "When he comes through, tr-"

Nick nodded. "Okay."

They stood on either side of the door. They both silently hoped the beating of their racing hearts wouldn't give away their genius hiding spot.

In a mere matter of seconds that felt like hours, the door finally flew open as Frankie raced through, gun raised. After he took two steps inside, Nick and Warrick both extended one of their legs and grabbed one of his arms, throwing him forward. He lost his balance easily and fell to the floor. The handle of the gun rammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He rolled over onto his back, gun still clutched in his hand.

Warrick grabbed the gun from him, holding the gun and his gaze on the man on the floor. Nick fumbled around in Frankie's pockets until he came up with a cell phone, quickly flipping it open and dialing the familiar number by heart. He turned and walked towards the window on the back wall, trying to get better reception. Finally someone answered.

"Brass." The tired voice sounded very frustrated, more so than usual.

"Brass, it's me, Nick."

"Nicky! Where are you? Are you al-" He stopped short when he heard the gunshots in the background.

Nick wheeled around, eyes wide with horror. His tense muscles relaxed when he saw Warrick was still standing. Blood poured from the two bullet wounds in Frankie's chest. Nick's eyes darted to the gun in his right hand, still pointing at him.

Warrick lowered the gun and turned towards Nick, who just stared at him.

"Nick! Talk to me kid!" Brass yelled into the phone, praying Nick was okay.

"Uh…we…we're okay…" Nick stuttered.

"Warrick's with you?"

"Yeah…we're at some house in the middle of the desert…"

"Okay. Just stay on with me for a minute so we can trace this and see where you are. Are you in any danger?"

Nick shook his head, eyes still locked with Warrick's. "No, we're okay."

"Thank God…" Brass said, mostly to himself. "Okay, I have the address, I'll be right there. Stay right where you are, you hear me?"

"Y-yeah, okay." Nick said before closing the phone and letting it fall to the floor. He started shaking again. He slowly walked backwards until his back hit the wall. He closed his eyes and slowly slid down until his knees were against his chest. He threaded his fingers through his hair and tried to take deep breaths.

Warrick dropped the gun to the floor, the thud of metal on wood echoing throughout the house. He walked over to Nick and sat down next to him.

"It's over man, we made it."

Nick nodded slowly and looked up at Warrick. He finally saw the small but painful looking cut on Warrick's right arm, just above his elbow.

"You okay?" Nick asked.

Warrick glanced down at the cut. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He turned back to Nick. "You okay bro?"

Nick laughed, the sound hollow and weak. "I don't know…I doubt it." He rubbed his face with his hands, trying to keep himself awake. He was still shaking all over, his skin ice cold.

"You will be." Warrick said, his confidence reassuring.

Nick looked up and sighed. "I'm sorry." He said, a sad smile on his lips.

"Why?" Warrick asked.

"You've had to save my life three times over the course of the last few hours. You had to kill two people tonight man." Nick said, tears brimming his eyes.

"Not had to, wanted to." Warrick corrected. "I did that because I wanted to." Nick's eyes dropped to the floor, his jaw clenching slightly. "Now you know how I feel."

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked, still not avoiding Warrick's eyes.

"All those times you've saved my life…and I never knew what to say or how to repay you. Not that this makes us even or anything. You just need to understand that's what we do, Nick. We're brothers for a reason man."

Nick finally looked up, smiling slightly. He sighed and rested his head against the wall behind them. "Because together, we have the worst luck. Ever."

Warrick laughed. "Yeah…and because we'd do anything for each other, and-"

"Will be there no matter what." Nick finished with a smile. They raised their fists at the same time, lightly hitting them together.

"There ya go Nicky." Warrick said.

Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They fell into a comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They both jumped when they heard the door bang open and the thunder of people running into the house and up the stairs. They relaxed when they saw Brass sprint through the door, eyes scanning the attic until they landed on Warrick and Nick. He ran over to them and kneeled in front of them, a hand on each of their bent knees.

"Are you okay?" He asked frantically, looking over each CSI carefully.

"Yeah, we're fine." Warrick answered.

Grissom was now standing behind Brass with a paramedic. "He's gonna check you out before you go to the-"

"No." Nick cut him off. "I'm not going to the hospital." He said defiantly.

"Nick, we need to make sure that there's no more damage to-"

"I'm fine, Griss." Nick said. "There's no way in hell I'm ever going to the hospital ever again unless something's sticking out of me or it's my last trip anywhere, ever."

Grissom knew there was no way he could win this fight, so he gave in, thankful he wouldn't have to go through the anxiety of one of his team members being in the hospital again. Especially Nick.

"Okay. He's still going to check both of you out, and then you're going straight home and to bed, understand?" Grissom stated firmly.

Nick and Warrick rose slowly to their feet, leaning back against the wall for support. "Yes sir." They said at the same time.

Grissom and Brass stepped back so the paramedic could examine the CSIs. He looked over Warrick first, cleaning a few cuts and scrapes before bandaging the cut he got from the bullet grazing his arm.

He then moved on to Nick, who was in a little rougher shape. The paramedic took the pieces of wood from Nick's hands, the slivers leaving deep cuts. He bandaged Nick's hands to stop the bleeding before looking at the wound on Nick's chest from over a month ago that had been re opened. The paramedic stitched the wound closed again, causing Nick to wince in pain with each pull of the needle through is skin. He then had to stitch up the cut on Nick's forehead after he cleaned it. Save for the 20 or so stitches, Nick was fine.

They thanked the paramedic before going over to Brass, giving the best statements they could. They had to combine theirs together to get the whole thing. Then they were finally free to go home. They left the old house as quickly as possible, thankful to get out into the cool night air.

The fresh air was refreshing. Both men took long, deep breaths. They looked around to try and figure out who was going to be taking them home. It took them a few seconds, but then they saw the flash of blonde spikes on top of dark brown hair.

"Hey guys." Greg greeted as he walked up to the older CSIs.

"Hey Greggo." Nick said tiredly.

"I can guess how bad you guys want to get out of here, so let's go." Greg said, nodding towards his waiting Denali.

"Good plan Greg." Warrick said as he followed the younger man to the car, getting into the front seat as Nick climbed into the back.

They drove in a semi-uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, no one sure of what - if anything - to say. Finally Greg built up the courage to talk.

"I'm glad you guys are okay." He said, staring at the road in front of him.

Warrick glanced back at Nick, who smiled. "Yeah, we are too man." Warrick said.

"You would have been alright without us though." Nick said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, right." Greg said with a laugh.

"Come on," Nick said, "You're a great CSI as it is, never mind after you get a couple of years under your belt. You're gonna be fine G, don't worry about it."

"Guy's got a point." Warrick added. "Give yourself more credit."

Greg smiled. "Thanks guys, that really means a lot."

They talked lightly the rest of the drive home about random things. Warrick and Greg fought over the radio while Nick sat back and enjoyed the contest.

Greg finally pulled into Nick and Warrick's driveway, putting the car into park before turning to his friends.

"All right, I'll see you guys later. Get some rest, okay?"

"Okay mom." Warrick teased.

"Let me know if you need anything. We haven't actually told Jenn and Catherine yet because we didn't want them to freak out."

"Good call." Nick said, laughing.

"Yeah, I know." He smiled slightly. "Now go get some rest, I'll see you later."

Nick and Warrick got out of the car. They leaned in Warrick's open door briefly to say bye.

"Thanks Greggo." Nick said.

"Yeah, thanks man." Warrick said, waving as he closed the door.

The scene at the house had already been processed and cleaned up, so Nick and Warrick were allowed back inside. Brass had ordered at least two police officers to watch the house at all times. Even though that made Nick slightly uncomfortable, he was still glad Brass had done it.

They dragged themselves into the house, Nick falling onto one couch and Warrick onto the other. They were fast asleep in seconds.


	12. Best Best Man

"Nick...wake up...NICK!" 

Nick groaned and opened his eyes. The blurry image of Warrick standing over him scared him, making him jump slightly.

"What?" He asked sleepily. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes but gave up after a few seconds.

"You're gonna be late for work man, let's go." Warrick said as he threw the covers off of Nick and rolled him out of bed.

Nick landed on the floor with a thud and sighed. "Why do you always wait for the last possible second to wake me up so I have to rush to get ready?" Nick said as he stood and stretched.

Warrick grinned. "I'm trying to teach you a lesson."

"Yeah, how's that workin out for ya?" Nick asked as he walked past Warrick and headed for the bathroom. Warrick shook his head and went into the kitchen to make some food for them before they had to leave. Just as he took the burgers off of the stove, Nick walked into the kitchen. Perfect timing as always.

Warrick clenched his jaw when he looked at Nick. His dark jeans hung loose around his lean waist and his slightly baggy gray long sleeved t-shirt just added to Warrick's knowledge that Nick was a lot skinnier than he should be. He remembered a few years ago when his best friend had been muscular and strong. Now he looked sick and weak, something Warrick hated to see almost more than anything. Nick's skin lacked it's usual darker tone and his eyes were the dark brown they used to be. A few months had passed since the whole hostage ordeal had happened, but the affects were still visible.

Nick smiled when he walked up to Warrick and slapped him on the shoulder in their usual playful manner. "What did you make me?" He asked cheerfully.

No matter how bad Nick looked physically or Warrick felt emotionally, his smile always made everything better. "My famous burgers of course."

Nick's smile widened. "I'm allowed to eat real food now?"

Warrick smiled back. "Yeah, I don't see why not. But if you tell Catherine, I swear to God you'll never eat anything ever again."

Nick held up his hands. "Don't worry, I know better than that."

They sat down at the table and ate quickly. When they had finished and put their dishes in the sink, Warrick turned to Nick. "You ready?" He asked.

Nick shrugged. "I've been waiting for you."

Warrick laughed and punched Nick lightly as he walked by him to grab his keys. Nick followed Warrick out of the house, locking the door behind him. They hopped into the Denali stationed in their driveway and Warrick pulled out and headed for the crime lab.

* * *

Grissom walked into the breakroom to hand out assignments 20 minutes after everyone else had gotten there. He walked in abd held up his hands, silencing everyone. 

"I know, I'm late. I apologize. Ecklie was being Ecklie Nothing I can do there." Everyone nodded in understanding. "Okay...we have a fairly slow night, except for Nick and Warrick."

Nick and Warrick exchanged puzzled looks. "Why do we get a hard case?" Warrick asked in mock-anger.

"Because you guys are my favorites, and Catherine still has planning for the wedding to do." Grissom said with a smile. "You guys get a 419 on Fremont. Brass is waiting for you."

* * *

The case had been surprisingly easy. Thanks to Archie, they had gotten an ID on the killer from the traffic cameras and it was a slam dunk. 

Nick finished filling out the paperwork while Warrick went and tormented Sara and Greg, who's case had been a helluva lot harder than theirs. They still didn't even have a suspect, or an ID on their vic.

Nick entered the locker room just as Warrick was shutting his locker. "Ready?" He asked.

"For what?" Warrick frowned in confusion.

Nick smiled. "Your bachelor party dumbass."

Warrick's eyes widened. "I swear to God if you got hookers I'm going to straight up murder your ass."

Nick laughed. "I didn't. I was seriously considering getting some to go to the crime scene just to see you and Brass' face, but I like my job so I decided against it."

Warrick sighed in relief. "Then what are we doing?"

Nick shrugged. "How the hell should I know?"

Warrick shook his head and smiled. "What a great best man I picked."

Nick nodded. "I know, but that's your own fault. I tried to talk you out of it..."

Warrick pushed Nick out the door and down the hallway. "You didn't have a very convincing argument."

"Dying isn't good enough for you?" Nick said sarcastically. Warrick punched Nick as hard as he could in the shoulder. Nick flinched back and rubbed the now very sore spot on his shoulder. "Sorry." He mumbled.

Warrick rolled and smiled. "So did you think of any brilliant ideas yet?"

Nick thought for a minute, and finally came up with something as they got to their Denali.

"We ride together, we die together."

Warrick smiled as they got into the car. "Bad boys for life."

* * *

"Do you think Grissom would get mad if we drove one of the Denali's down a really big hill?" Nick asked as they sat on their couch and watched Will Smith and Martin Lawerence barrell down a hill of crack houses in Cuba in a bright yellow Hummer. 

Warrick shrugged. "We'd probably get fired. Ecklie'd be wicked pissed."

"It'd be worth it though."

Warrick nodded. "Oh yeah."

"This is the best bachelor party I've ever been to, and I can't even drink any alcohol at this one."

Warrick laughed. "I think you're addicted to cherry coke anyway."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

They fell into a comfrotable silence and finished watching the rest of the movie. Once it was done, Nick turned the DVD player off and flipped through the channels until he found a college basketball game. It didn't take long for Nick to realize Warrick was only pretending to watch the game. He could tell his best friend was deep in thought.

"You okay?" Nick asked, snapping Warrick out of his staring contest with the coffee table.

"Huh?" He asked, obviously not having heard what Nick had said.

"Are you okay?" Nick repeated.

Warrick nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Which means you're not." Nick said with a small smile.

Warrick laughed, but Nick could tell it was forced. "It's just...I'm gonna miss this."

"Miss what?"

"Hanging out with you all the time."

Nick smiled. "You're not moving to Florida or anything. And we do work together."

Warrick nodded and frowned at the same time. "Yeah I know...but it's fun living with you. I just feel like I'm ditching you or something."

Nick could tell there was more. "That's not all that's bothering you, is it?" He said, knowing the answer already.

Warrick sighed. "It's nothing."

Nick shrugged. "Okay."

"Damn you Nick." Warrick said, rubbing his eyes.

"What did I do?" Nick said.

Warrick sighed heavier. "You know me too well."

Nick couldn't help but smile. "So does that mean you're gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"Unfortunatly..." He gathered his thoughts and thought of the right words before continuing. "It's just...I'm scared. Living with you...I always know where you are and that you're okay." Warrick shook his head. "I just keep thinking that I'm gonna be at home, about to call you or something...but Grissom will call me and say they found your body in another fucking box or something."

Nick didn't know what to say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to think of what to say. When he couldn't think of anything, he said the only thing that came to mind.

"I'm sorry." He said in an almost whisper.

"It's not your fault." Warrick said. He broke his eyes away from Nick's and looked down at the floor. "You almost died, Nick."

Nick reached across the couch and squeezed Warrick's shoulder. "But I didn't."

Warrick looked up at Nick with tears in his eyes. "Not the last few times...but what if you do? I hate thinking about it...but I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you."

"You were fine before you met me. You'd be fine without me messing everything up."

Warrick shook his head. "No...no, I wasn't. I never had any friends or anything. And now that I know you...I can't imagine what it'd be like without you around."

Nick bit the inside of his lip. He was usually good with words, but couldn't find any right now. He had no idea what to say, and it was more than obvious to Warrick.

"I'm sorry Nick."

Nick shook his head and shrugged. "You didn't do anything." Was all he could think to say.

"Neither did you." Warrick sighed heavily. "I'm just so scared that everytime I see you is gonna be the last time."

Nick finally came up with something to say. "Remember when I was in the hospital after the whole...burning house thing..." Warrick nodded, unsure of where Nick was going with this. "Well I distinctly remember you saying that you weren't gonna let anything get in the way of our friendship."

"And I won't." Warrick responded.

Nick smiled. "Then we've got nothing to worry about bro."

* * *

**I sincerely apologize for the ridiculous amount of time this chapter took. I'm hoping to finish this story up in another couple of chapters. Thanks for the reviews.**


	13. My Best Friend's Wedding

_Nick kissed Catherine's lips gently and smiled when she smiled. He ran his fingers through her long, soft blonde hair and brushed his hand over her shoulder. His smile widened when she kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck as they fell backwards onto the bed._

Nick jumped when he heard the loud blare of his alarm clock and fell painfully to the floor, landing on his left side. His elbow jammed into his stomach, causing him to knock the wind of out himself.

"Son of a bitch..." He said breathlessly. He reached up and grabbed his alarm clock and turned it off as quickly as he could. He sighed and layed back down on the floor, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to pretend he hadn't had that dream.

He heard Warrick walk in, but didn't say anything until he asked sleepily, "Nick, where the hell are you?"

Nick sat up. "Right here."

Warrick shook his head. "Not even gonna ask man." Warrick fell onto Nick's bed and yawned. "I am so exhausted."

Nick fell back against the floor beneath him. "Me too. Watching the entire second season of Entourage last night wasn't a good idea."

"It was a very good idea, we just shouldn't have done it." Warrick corrected. Nick stood with a groan. "What did you do?" Warrick asked.

"Fell out of bed again." Nick said as he looked at the bruise on his ribs.

"Nightmare?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, a bad one."

* * *

The last 4 hours of Nick's life had been the most hectic yet. Getting the suits, making sure the band was showing up, and the thousand other things he was in charge of doing tired him out pretty easily. He was trying as hard as he could not to fall asleep in the back room of the church 5 minutes before the wedding. 

And it's a good thing he didn't. Warrick came back from the bathroom shaking his head and holding up his hands.

"I can't do it." He said, and headed for the window at the back of the room. "I'm bailing." He reached up to open the window.

Nick sprang up from his chair and ran towards Warrick and pulled him away from the window by his shoulders. "Woah woah woah." Nick moved so he was standing in the middle of Warrick's escape route. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I can't marry Catherine. I'm gonna mess up." Warrick tried to get around Nick, but couldn't. "Move man, let me go."

Nick pushed Warrick backwards further. "No." Nick said defiantly. "You're freaking out for no good reason at all."

"What happened the last time I got married? Awful divorce. Worst decision of my life."

Nick shook his head. "Catherine's not Tina, and this weddings in a church."

"I'm not worried about Cath, I'm worried about me. I'm gonna fuck this up somehow, and I can't hurt her."

"So you're gonna walk out on your wedding?" Warrick stopped trying to fight off Nick, half because he knew he was right and half because he didn't want to accidentally hurt him. "Listen to me Warrick: you're not gonna mess up because you love Catherine. I wouldn't let you marry her unless I knew that. It's gonna be okay man, trust me."

Warrick sighed. "You're right. Sorry Nick."

Nick smiled. "It's alright. Just don't do that again, you scared the hell outta me. Catherine would kill me if you bailed. Like legit...my life would be over."

Warrick laughed. "Yeah that's true." There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in." Warrick said.

Greg popped his head in. "They're getting ready to start."

Warrick nodded slowly. "Alright."

"I gotta go with Greg, see ya soon bro."

"Yeah...thanks Nick." Warrick said before Nick left.

Nick smiled. "No problem."

Nick closed the door behind him and Warrick sank into the leather arm chair Nick had occupied before he had burst in and tried to escape. He smiled at his own stupidity and rubbed his face to calm himself down. A few minutes later, Grissom came in and Warrick followed him to the alter where Nick and Greg were already waiting. He took his place in front of Nick, and Grissom stood behind Nick and in front of Greg.

Shortly thereafter, the bridemaids came out and took their places. Catherine's sister was the maid of honor, followed by Jenn, Sara and Sophia. Then the famous wedding music blared out from the organs and everyone rose as Sam walked Catherine down the aisle.

Anyone would agree that 'beautiful' was the biggest understatement of the century. Sam was smiling proudly, and with good reason.

* * *

The ceremony couldn't have gone better. Well, Nick and Greg could have refrained from laughing when Warrick accidentally cut the priest off, but other than that, it was perfect. 

The reception was very well set up. The food and drinks were served quickly and all went smoothly. About 30 minutes in, Sam tapped his wine glass with his fork and stood, getting everyone to quiet down and give him their undivided attention.

"I want to thank you all for coming, and of course give Warrick and Muggs my best wishes." Everyone clapped. "But this isn't my job, so I'd like to hand it over to the best man, Nick Stokes."

There was more applause as Nick stood and Sam patted him on the back. "Thanks Sam." Nick took a quick sip of his wine before he began. "I've been lucky enough to have known Warrick and Catherine for the past 12 years, and I can confidently say I know them both pretty well. Therefore, I'd fight anyone who would try to argue the fact that they literally are perfect for each other. I know it's probably the most cliché thing ever, but that's okay."

Nick paused for a second before continuing. "Not many people can say that they're best friends end up getting married...to each other...and those that do don't have friends like these two. They're the best friends I've ever had. I'm very lucky to be so close to them, but they're even luckier to have each other." Nick looked over at Warrick and Catherine, who were sitting to his right, and laughed when he saw tears running down Catherine's cheeks. "So seeing as how I'm gonna get yelled at later for making Catherine cry..." Nick paused briefly as everyone laughed. He turned and raised his glass to Warrick and Catherine and smiled. "Here's to Catherine and Warrick, congratulations guys. I love you both very much and couldn't be happier for you."

* * *

Nick took another sip of his beer and smiled as he watched Catherine and Warrick during their first dance together as a married couple. Of course he was happy as hell for his best friend, but he was also happy they had decided to go with an open bar. 

Nick was just taking the first sip of his third or fourth beer as Greg came up and took the seat next to him.

"Great speech Nick."

"Thanks G."

They fell into a comfortable silence and watched as another dance started up. Greg looked from Catherine, to Nick, back to Catherine, then finally back to Nick. "So is she the one that got away?" He said, his mouth once again moving a lot faster than his brain.

Nick looked at Greg and frowned. "Who?" He asked in confusion.

Greg figured that as long as he was stuck with his dumb question, he might as well get an answer. "Catherine. I may not be Warrick, but I know you well enough to see that you still have some feelings for her." Nick stared at Greg, who held up his hands and shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell Warrick." He said with a laugh.

Once the shock of Greg's question passed, Nick actually considered it for a minute. The answer came right after he saw the huge smile on Warrick's face. "Even if that's true...and I'm not say it is...I'm glad she got away from me and found him."

The song ended, and before he could respond, Catherine came up and grabbed Greg's hand. "Your turn." She said with a smile as she dragged Greg out onto the dance floor after her.

Warrick took Greg's now empty seat next to Nick. He reached into his jacket pocket and handed Nick a small piece of folded paper. Nick accepted it with a confused smile and unfolded it, only to immediatly try to give it back to Warrick.

"No man, I don't want this." Nick said as he shook his head.

"Well that's a problem because it's yours."

"No, I remember giving it to you."

Warrick shook his head. "It was a loan Nick. Now I'm repaying you."

"Well I don't want you to." Nick said as he forced the check back into Warrick's hand. "Consider it a wedding gift."

"Nick, it's 15 thousand dollars. Not to mention you letting me live with you and everything. Take it."

Nick shook his head again. "No. Even if you somehow force it upon me, I'm not cashing it, so you just killed a tree for nothing."

Warrick sighed. "Then what am I supposed to do with this?" Warrick asked as he held up the check.

Nick smiled as Greg and Catherine returned and as he was being dragged out to dance with Catherine, he said to Warrick over his shoulder, "I don't care...give it to Greg."


	14. Regardless

_As soon as he walked into the locker room, he knew something was wrong. Pausing only momentarily, Warrick went over and sat down next to Nick silently and waited for the bad news._

_Nick turned to face Warrick and smiled sadly at him. "Hey Warrick." He said quietly._

_Warrick nodded slightly. "What did you need to talk to me about?"_

_Nick sighed heavily. "Okay...you're probably gonna kill me...but you need to understand it was comepletely my fault, okay?"_

_"Nick, I'm not gonna kill you man."_

_Nick laughed humorlessly. "Wanna bet?" Warrick didn't answer, so Nick took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I slept with Catherine...again." When he didn't hear any kind of repsonse from Warrick, he slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with Warrick fist crashing into his cheekbone._

_The blow sent Nick flying off the bench and onto the cold cement floor. Seconds later he was hauled to his feet and slammed against a hard metal locker. Warrick was holding him up against it by two fistfulls of his shirt and staring him straight in the eye._

_"You had better have a very good explanation."_

_Nick shook his head slowly. "I don't...I was at a bar, and she was too...and she was really drunk so I took her home and...and I don't know why but I did it again."_

_Warrick punhced Nick again and pressed him against the lockers harder. "You took advantage of my wife...my very drunk **wife**? What the hell is the matter with you?"_

_Nick shook his head slowly. "A lot of things." He swalloed the lump in his throat and offered a quiet, "I'm sorry Warrick."_

_Warrick clenched his jaw. "Yeah, me too." He said before throwing Nick to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking him until he stopped moving._

* * *

Nick was fairly sure he was dreaming, until he opened his eyes and still heard the banging on his door. He groaned and slowly slid out of bed and shuffled to the door. He opened it to reveal Warrick standing on his doorstep.

Nick rubbed the sleep from his eyes and smiled sleepily. "Hey man, everything okay?"

"Uh...Yeah..."

As tired as Nick had been, he was now wide awake at the tone of Warrick's voice. He could tell something was wrong. "What's the matter?" Nick asked.

"Nothing..." Warrick sighed. "Nevermind, it's stupid. Sorry I woke you up."

Nick sifled a yawn. "You know I'm not gonna let you go that easily." Nick stepped aside so Warrick could enter his old house. He closed the door and joined his best friend on the couch. "What's wrong Warrick?"

"I just...had a nightmare and wanted to..." Warrick paused for a second. "I just wanted to make sure...that you were still alive."

Nick tried very hard to think of how to respond to that. When he couldn't think of anything, he tried a quiet, "Oh."

"Yeah...I know it's stupid, sorry."

"No...it's not." They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before Nick finally asked, "What did you have a nightmare about?"

Warrick sighed again. "It doesn't matter."

"Obviously it does if you won't tell me."

Warrick closed his eyes and rubbed his face as hard as he could. "You...slept with Catherine again because she was drunk or something and then I...killed you."

Nick was silent for a very long time before he finally said, "I'm sorry."

Warrick shook his head. "It's not your fault. It happened once, and I don't even care anymore. It was just a stupid dream."

Nick nodded slowly. "Then what's really bothering you?"

Warrick looked at his best friend for a second before saying, "Nothing."

"Liar."

Warrick laughed slightly. "You're impossible, you know that right?"

"Always have been, not my fault you're just catching on now."

Warrick smiled, but only for a minute. It faded as he got up the courage to tell Nick what was really bugging him. "I always have a different nightmare...when we were digging you up and you had the gun to your head...except in my dream, you always pull it."

Nick reached out and squeezed Warrick's shoulder reassuringly. "I didn't do it, I'm right here. You saved me."

"I know...I j-just keep seeing you like that and dying right in front of me...I can't get it out of my head." Warrick took a deep breath and couldn't stop himself from asking, "Were you really gonna do it?"

Nick closed his eyes. He didn't want to lie to his best friend, but didn't want to tell him the truth either. He finally stopped arguing with himself and quietly said, "Yeah...I was." Warrick didn't respond. The silence was starting to drive him crazy so he said the first thing that came to him. "I'm sorry Warrick."

This time, Warrick responded right away. "Don't be bro. I know it must have been hell for you down there. I just don't know what I would have done if you had..." Warrick trailed off and Nick felt his heart sink. "I just wish it had been me and not you."

Nick opened his eyes and shook his head. "Don't say that. It wasn't your fault and I would have gone insane if it had been you. I'm glad it was me. I never once wished that it was you and not me down there so don't even think it."

"I never would have lasted as long as you did. I would have given it 20 minutes tops then-"

"It doesn't matter what _would_ have happened. All that matters is we're both here, we're both okay, and it's gonna stay that way for a while."

Warrick sighed. "I know, and I'm not trying to make this anymore difficult than it's been...but sometimes, it just feels weird."

"What do you mean?" Nick was now fully awake.

"I don't know. Sometimes it just feels like...you're really not there. I just get this weird feeling and I somehow trick myself into thinking you really aren't here. I know it sounds weird...but sometimes I think that I really couldn't save you."

"But you did."

"But what if I hadn't? You almost _died_ Nick."

"But I **didn't.** I'm right here, I'm fine." Warrick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Nick looked away from his best friend and down at the floor. "You wanted me to die, didn't you?" He said so quietly Warrick almost didn't hear him.

Warrick stared at Nick for a very long time as he considered how to answer that question. Finally he broke the building tension and said, "Why the hell would you ever say that to me?"

Nick continued his staring contest with the floor. "I don't know...because then you wouldn't feel so responsible for me anymore and wouldn't have to worry about me all the time. I've come so close to dying so many times it must be getting annoying. I wouldn't blame you for just wanting to get it over with and finally have me gone."

Warrick pushed Nick's shoulder back against the couch, forcing him to look him in the eye. "None of what has happened to you has been your fault. None of it. I honestly don't understand how you can think I want you gone. You're my _brother_ Nick. I can't do this without you, and you know that. Losing you would probably kill me. So don't think for a second that I want you gone. That couldn't be farther from the truth."

"It's just hard, ya know?"

Warrick nodded slightly. "I know how hard everything's been on you. But you've come way too fae to throw it all away now. No one else would be able to pull this all off. So stick around for a little bit more."

Nick smiled. "Deal."

They pounded their fists together, like they did to seal the deal on everything, whether it be bets or agreements. They both knew that no matter what would be thrown at them next, they'd pull through it if they stuck together.

**THE END**

* * *

Well that's it. Thanks for reading it and for the reviews. Sorry it took so long to get it finished. 


End file.
